{"id":49415,"date":"2026-07-27T12:47:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T19:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=49415"},"modified":"2026-07-27T12:47:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T19:47:27","slug":"this-is-not-of-god-faith-leaders-demand-release-of-pastors-end-to-ice-terror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/this-is-not-of-god-faith-leaders-demand-release-of-pastors-end-to-ice-terror\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018This Is Not of God\u2019: Faith Leaders Demand Release of Pastors, End to ICE \u2018Terror\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Pastors<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Texas pastors Nepthal\u00ed Zozaya Saucedo and Cinthia Sara\u00ed Cardona Otero were detained by US immigration authorities on July 23, 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Photo by Nepthal\u00ed Zozaya Saucedo)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a terror campaign with the mission of traumatizing our neighbors,\u201d one pastor said of the Trump administration\u2019s deadly anti-immigrant crackdown. \u201cWe don\u2019t need terror. We need peace.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jul 25, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faith leaders are calling on US Immigration<\/a> and Customs Enforcement to immediately free a pair of pastors who advocates say were wrongfully detained by ICE agents in Texas<\/a> on Thursday while traveling to a religious retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Nepthal\u00ed Zozaya Saucedo and his wife, pastor Cinthia Sara\u00ed Cardona Otero, were detained by federal immigration enforcers after arriving at McAllen International Airport. According to the couple and their church leaders, the longtime pastors at the Comunidad Cristiana Emanuel Assemblies of God congregation in Edinburg, Texas were on their way to a marriage retreat in North Carolina when they were detained and taken to a US Border Patrol processing center in McAllen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Anti-ICE<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We Will Not Forget Them\u2019: Nationwide Vigils Demand Justice for People Killed by ICE<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Protestors<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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At a Friday press conference hosted by leaders from the Assemblies of God and the Latino Christian National Network, LCN board member Sandy Ovalle said that the couple has valid R-1 religious worker visas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are calling for their immediate release, the protection of their due process rights, and an urgent oversight into ICE\u2019s conduct,\u201d Ovalle said. \u201cNo one should be pressured to give up their rights under the threat of losing their children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Religion<\/a> News Service that the pastors are \u201cillegal aliens\u201d who overstayed their visas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the conference by phone from the detention center, Nepthal\u00ed said that the couple was threatened with separation from their US citizen children<\/a> if they did not sign papers authorizing their \u201cvoluntary\u201d deportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey spoke with us about separation\u2014to be separated from our children and even as married people,\u201d he said, according to<\/a> Religion News Service. \u201cThey spoke about how much time that we could end up spending here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking during the press conference, Comunidad Cristiana Emanuel senior pastor Sarai Martinez Luna said, \u201cI think it\u2019s very cruel that somebody that had no status for deportation be pressured to sign a voluntary deportation based on the separation of their children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday\u2019s news conference followed a Wednesday press briefing by faith leaders at the Texas Capitol in Austin to condemn the killings of Johan Sebasti\u00e1n Dur\u00e1n Guerrero<\/a> in Maine<\/a>, Juan Jairo Coronilla Dur\u00e1n<\/a> in Florida, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo<\/a> in Houston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not of God. This is no peace that we want a part of because let\u2019s be honest, this isn\u2019t a peacekeeping initiative. This is a terror campaign with the mission of traumatizing our neighbors until they self-deport,\u201d said Dan De Leon, senior pastor at Friends Congregational Church in College Station. \u201cWe don\u2019t need terror. We need peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leaders from a range of faith communities across Texas came together to send a unified anti-ICE message to Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and state lawmakers, saying ICE operations go against their core religious values. pic.twitter.com\/DbPf1LPZTd<\/a><\/p>— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) July 24, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>