COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) 鈥 For more than two hours on a Sunday afternoon, the Rev. Gustavo Castillo led the Pentecostal congregation he鈥檚 been growing in this Minneapolis suburb through prayer, Scriptures, rousing music and sometimes tearful testimonials.
But it all may end soon. A sudden procedural change in how the federal government processes green cards for foreign-born religious workers, together with , means that thousands of clergy like him are losing the ability to remain in this country.
鈥淲e were right on the edge of becoming permanent residents, and boom, this changed,鈥 Colombia-born Castillo said as his wife rocked their 7-month-old boy, a U.S. citizen by birth. 鈥淲e have done everything correctly, from here onward we believe that God will work a miracle. We don鈥檛 have any other option.鈥
To become permanent U.S. residents, which can eventually lead to citizenship, immigrants apply for green cards, generally through U.S. family members or employers. A limited number of green cards are available annually, set by Congress and separated into categories depending on the closeness of the family relationship or the skills needed in a job.
Citizens of countries with disproportionately high numbers of migrants are put in separate, often longer green card queues. Currently, the most backlogged category is for the married Mexican children of U.S. citizens 鈥 only applications filed before March 1998 are being processed.
For faith leaders, the line historically has been short enough to get a green card before their temporary work visas expired, attorneys say.
That changed in March. The State Department announced that for nearly seven years it had been placing in the wrong line tens of thousands of applications for neglected or abused minors from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and would now start adding those to the general queue with the clergy. Since the mid-2010s, from these countries have sought humanitarian green cards or asylum after illegally crossing into the U.S.
This change means that only applications filed before January 2019 are currently being processed, moving forward the Central American minors by a few months but giving clergy with expiring visas, like Castillo, no option but to leave their U.S. congregations behind.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e doing everything they鈥檙e supposed to be doing and all of a sudden, they鈥檙e totally steamrolled,鈥 said Matthew Curtis, an immigration attorney in New York City whose clients, like an Israeli rabbi and a South African music minister, are running out of time. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a bombshell on the system.鈥
Attorneys estimate so many people are now in the queue that the wait is at least a decade long, because only 10,000 of these green cards can be granted annually.
Curtis鈥 firm advises potential clergy applicants that 鈥渢here is no indication when you can receive a green card.鈥
That鈥檚 likely to dissuade religious organizations from hiring foreign workers precisely when they鈥檙e most needed because of the growing demand for leaders of immigrant congregations who can speak languages other than English and understand other cultures.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a comfort to practice your religion in your native tongue, in someone close to your culture celebrating Mass,鈥 said Olga Rojas, the Archdiocese of Chicago鈥檚 senior counsel for immigration. The U.S. Catholic Church has also to ease a shortage of local vocations.
At one Chicago-area parish that鈥檚 been helping with from the border, two Mexican religious sisters have started ministries for women in the shelters as well as English classes, Rojas said.
鈥淭hese two sisters know they won鈥檛 get green cards,鈥 she added, and they expect to lose other religious sisters and brothers who are teachers, principals and serve in other key roles. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 catastrophic.鈥
Those from religious orders with vows of poverty, like Catholic nuns and Buddhist monks, are especially hard hit, because most other employment visa categories require employers to show they鈥檙e paying foreign workers prevailing wages. Since they鈥檙e getting no wages, they don鈥檛 qualify.
Across all faith traditions, there are few options for these workers to continue their U.S.-based ministry, attorneys say. At a minimum, they would need to go abroad for a year before being eligible for another temporary religious worker visa, and repeat that process, paying thousands in fees, throughout the decade 鈥 or for however long their green card application stays pending.
鈥淎 big concern is that leaving is not really viable. The church will replace the pastor or shut down, it鈥檚 too much instability,鈥 said Calleigh McRaith, Castillo鈥檚 attorney in Minnesota.
Being in limbo is challenging for the affected religious workers, including Stephanie Reimer, a 春色直播 serving a nondenominational Christian youth missionary organization in Kansas City. Her visa expires in January.
鈥淚鈥檝e done a lot of praying,鈥 she said. 鈥淭here are days when it feels overwhelming.鈥
Martin Valko, an immigration attorney in Dallas whose clients include imams and Methodist pastors, said many rely on their faith to stay hopeful.
But realistic options are so few that the American Immigration Lawyers Association and faith leaders, like Chicago鈥檚 Catholic cardinal and coalitions of evangelical pastors, have lobbied the Biden administration and Congress to fix the problem.
Administrative solutions could include allowing religious workers to at least file for their green cards, so they can get temporary work authorization like those in other queues awaiting permanent residence.
The most effective and immediate fix would be for Congress to remove from this category the vulnerable minors鈥 applications, attorneys say. Despite being humanitarian, they make up the vast majority of the queue they share with religious workers, said Lance Conklin, a Maryland attorney who co-chairs the lawyer association鈥檚 religious workers group.
鈥淭hey shouldn鈥檛 be pitted against each other in competition for visas,鈥 said Matthew Soerens, who leads the Evangelical Immigration Table, a national immigrant advocacy organization.
Back at the Iglesia Pentecostal Unida Latinoamericana, Castillo said he has ministered to a family with two young children who , a jungle in Central America favored by smugglers that鈥檚 among the most dangerous parts of migrants鈥 journeys, and a mother and daughter who said they came 鈥渢hrough the hole鈥 in the border wall.
鈥淪ome of them are in a better migration situation鈥 than himself and his wife Yarleny, Castillo said. But he added that his call to minister to them is undaunted. 鈥淚 serve God. He will take charge of these affairs while I lead those he has entrusted to me.鈥
That鈥檚 why, even as they face having to leave the country when their visas expire in February, the Castillos are fundraising to buy the building where they now rent worship space. They also regularly drive 10 hours to South Dakota, where they鈥檙e establishing another church.
鈥淚n this work, one is constantly helping destroyed migrant families,鈥 Yarleny Castillo said. 鈥淎nd they need a space like this.鈥
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP鈥檚 with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
