Together with other community religious leaders, Bishop Guy Erwin participated in a public demonstration on March 23, Wednesday of Holy Week, protesting the deportation of Central American mothers and children who have sought refuge in the United States from the criminal gangs that threaten them at home. Rooted in the US drug trade and often extensions of Los Angeles based gangs, these criminals act with impunity in their own countries, whose governments and economies are too weak to resist their power and wealth.
Participants marched from the ICE Detention Center to Pershing Square, where they prayed and engaged in a symbolic footwashing. “Jesus calls us to welcome the stranger in God’s name, but our laws make neighbors into aliens,” stated Bishop Erwin. “In this week that Christians call Holy we emphasize our care for all those in need. Jesus became a servant to all and we too are servants to those who need us no matter their citizenship status, that’s why we’re calling for a stop to deportations.”