An Angolan asylum seeker and father of four was detained by U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement on Friday evening after visiting his newborn child at the hospital, his pastor said.
Senior Minister Scott Cousineau from First Parish Saco Church said he was “shocked” by the arrest of the long-time parishioner, who he only identified as Makengo. Cousineau declined to share Makengo’s last name without the family’s permission.
“She’s afraid to go out of the house, because what if something happens to her?” Cousineau said of Makengo’s wife. “Then what happens to the children?”
He said Makengo has been with First Parish for more than eight years, joining almost immediately after he arrived in the U.S. Cousineau said Makengo is one of the church’s greeters who welcome people before services and his young daughter played Mary in the church’s Christmas play last year.
Cousineau said that he believes Makengo did “everything he was supposed” for his asylum case.
“He’s not among the worst of the worst, he’s really among the best of the best,” Cousineau said.
More than 200 people have been detained in Maine by ICE agents since an enforcement surge began last week, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which has said the operation is focused on arresting people with criminal histories.
Those arrested have included asylum seekers complying with orders from immigration officials and immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens.
The Sunday after Makengo was detained, Cousineau said, his parish was distraught. People mobilized to coordinate getting groceries to his family so they wouldn’t have to leave their home.
Friends had already raised more than $21,000 to help with legal fees and his family’s needs on GoFundMe as of Monday.
“I think everyone has been so paralyzed by what’s happening around the world, and frustrated by not having the ability to do anything about it, and then when something happens in their town, there’s finally something they can do,” Cousineau said.
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