For the past few weeks, neighbors in Brooklyn’s tight-knit Guatemalan community have been drawn especially close.
As word of ICE raids and detentions spread, warnings ricocheted across WhatsApp groups. Sometimes they gave specific addresses. Other times, just the words “be careful.”
And last week, their well-founded worries became reality once again when a church elder and deacon from Iglesia Misionera de Jóvenes Cristianos Church and several other neighbors were detained by ICE as they left their homes for work.
Early-morning arrests of working immigrants in Bensonhurst have become common, said S. Michael Musa-Obregon, the immigration lawyer in the deacon’s case.
“Trying to catch them off the streets illegally, without a search warrant, without an arrest warrant and incarcerate them without due process,” he said. “That’s what’s happening every day in that neighborhood.”
Sebastian Renoj Ordoñez, a secretary at the church for 18 years, was detained the morning of Jan. 15 by agents who were waiting outside his apartment building, according to federal court filings. Officers did not explain the arrest or read Renoj his rights when he was arrested, the court documents said.
While Renoj was not a U.S. citizen and entered the country “without inspection,” according to his lawyer, he has deep roots in the community, including children and grandchildren who were born in the United States.
On Thursday, a New Jersey federal judge ordered immigration officials to pause any transfer or deportation of Renoj back to Guatemala and demanded that the grandfather be given a bond hearing in immigration court within 10 days. The judge noted that Renoj “has resided in New York ‘for years,’ has a fixed address, longstanding ties to the community, and no criminal charges.”
Renoj is being held at Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, New Jersey.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told CBS 2 that U.S. Border Patrol deported Renoj to Mexico in 2000 after he used a fake name and claimed to be from Mexico. He later returned to the U.S. at some point, McLaughlin said.
Community leaders said the deacon’s detention was one of the latest arrests to strike immigrants in Bensonhurst, a neighborhood long defined by its Italian and Jewish populations that is now home to a growing Guatemalan enclave. According to the 2020 Census, residents of Guatemalan descent make up almost 3 percent of Bensonhurst’s population.
Fellow church goer Juan, who asked that Documented only use his first name for safety reasons, said that he knew Renoj both from church and work. Renoj was a “good person,” who “helps others,” and was generous with his experience in construction — always happy to teach painting and other techniques, said Juan.
“He was a great person. He shares his knowledge, and he’s very friendly,” said Juan.
Initially, Renoj was resigned to return to Guatemala, said Musa-Obregon. However, he was convinced to fight after he learned his lawyer believed his constitutional rights had been violated and he had “a chance of getting out.”
Musa-Obregon described his client as proactive, knowledgeable and smart — someone New York City would be unlucky to lose.
“It’s worth the struggle to try to remain here, especially after living here decades and being a contributing member of society,” Musa-Obregon told Documented.
Church Pastor Erick Salgado said before the deacon’s detention, there had been constant immigration enforcement activity on 17th and 18th avenues near the subway station, with agents “waiting at 6 o’clock in the morning.”
Local residents who spoke with Documented described a climate of fear in the neighborhood, but also resilience: communicating and collaborating amongst each other in WhatsApp groups, neighbors helping neighbors.
“They try to send messages like ‘Hey, careful around this address,’” said restaurant owner Geramias Alvarado. “For example, yesterday, everyone started writing each other, ‘Oh, immigration’s at 18th and 75th, be careful.’ This morning they were there around 10 a.m.”
For families who have lost a relative to an ICE arrest, church members race to support them — practically and spiritually. Alvarado said he tries to provide them with meals, particularly those who are afraid to leave their homes. More than anything, the community prays, he said, something that keeps them strong and shields them against fear.
“It’s like COVID 2,” he told Documented in Spanish.
Musa-Obregon told Documented that just because someone immigrated to the United States “doesn’t mean that they’re criminals.”
你知道吗？非公民办理驾照时的这个错误可能会导致选民欺诈
“The American Society, American economy, depends on foreign labor,” he said. “We attract foreign labor, we utilize foreign labor, and then all of a sudden we want to close the door and criminalize people that we’ve accepted.”
At a press conference following Renoj’s arrest, City Council Member Susan Zhuang denounced what she described as the federal government’s lawless treatment of immigrants.
“Immigrants have been central to the function of our community,” she said. “In addition to people like this poor pastor, who […] inspire love and faith.”
