May 28, 2019 9:50p
(WGTD)---A student pastor at a Racine Lutheran church who was picked up by ICE earlier this month has already been deported.
Betty Rendon served at Emaus Church and was a student at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago.
She came to this country from Columbia some 15 years ago, seeking asylum after her life was threatened for reportedly not allowing guerrillas in Columbia’s civil war to recruit students at the school that she led.
Even though her request was turned down, Rendon never left the U.S.
On May 8th, she and her husband were arrested at their suburban Chicago home under an escalating Trump administration policy of deporting undocumented workers.
A vigil for Rendon and her family was held at Emaus Tuesday evening. Christine Neumann-Ortiz of the immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera was among those who spoke. "The money--our tax dollars--are being used in a policy of xenophobia and racism. That's the only reason that you would carry out a military-styled operation to go after this family," she said.
Others who spoke included Racine Mayor Cory Mason, Bishop Paul Erickson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Rev. Jhon Freddy Correa, former pastor of Emaus and a native of Columbia.
Similar vigils were held Tuesday night in Chicago and New Orleans, the debarkation point for Rendon’s trip back to Columbia. The Racine rally nearly filled the church.
Rendon leaves behind in this country a daughter who is DACA-protected and a five-year-old granddaughter.
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