‘Chilling’: Faith leaders want ICE agents to stay away from places of worship

CHARLOTTE — A group of faith leaders in Charlotte say they have a message for ICE -- they want agents to stay away from their places of worship.

Channel 9’s Hunter Sáenz started looking into rumors about an arrest outside of an east Charlotte church, but we learned that nobody was arrested.

Church leaders said ICE did stage at the Central Methodist Church, and they want them to stop.

“The chilling effect is well, down-right chilling,” Rev. Jennifer Copeland with the North Carolina Council of Churches.

Copeland explained the feelings many in our immigrant community are dealing with after she says ICE agents were outside of the church last week. It’s home to Children of the World Learning Center, a dual-language school for three and four-year-olds.

“Their presence on sacred ground disrupted the peace, it created fear among the staff and the children of families, the congregants,” Copeland said.

She says while nobody was detained, it sent an unsettling message.

“Sacred places across North Carolina now worry, can that happen to us? Will they do that here?” Copeland said.

Mecklenburg County Commissioner Susan Rodriguez McDowell agrees, saying, “I think it could cause generational trauma for children.”

Wednesday’s press conference comes as the immigrant community is on high alert after an ICE arrest near an east Charlotte school. That man’s family says the arrest was a case of mistaken identity, but ICE says “any alien encountered ... is subject to arrest if deemed to be here illegally.”

McDowell and other community leaders argue schools, courthouses, hospitals, and churches should be off limits.

“We should not have people afraid to use those places,” McDowell said.

ICE can arrest people at those places, but they generally need warrants. Instead of going on private property, they often wait until the person leaves the place, and then they’ll try to pull them over.

The Carolina Migrant Network says this month it’s received more than 130 calls in the span of just one week.

(VIDEO: Family: Charlotte East Language Academy dad arrested by ICE was told he wasn’t target)

Family: Charlotte East Language Academy dad arrested by ICE was told he wasn’t target

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