‘Heartbreaking experience’: Local catholic church fights to free immigrant detained by ICE, help his family
A local Catholic church is rallying around the family of a Venezuelan immigrant and church member who was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and calling for his release.
Jesus Teran was detained on July 8 after he went to the ICE Pittsburgh field office for a scheduled check-in.
Teran, 35, a civil engineer from Venezuela who works for a local carpenter’s union, was sent briefly to Northern Regional Jail in Moundsville, W.Va., before he was moved to Moshannon Valley Processing Center, operated by a private contractor, the GEO Group, in Phillipsburg, where he is still being held.
Church members and those who know the family are shaken by the arrest of Teran, who has lived in the country since 2021 and is a faithful member of St. Oscar Romero Parish in Washington County, where he and his family regularly attend services at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church in Meadow Lands.
“It’s been a heartbreaking experience. He’s been faithfully appearing at ICE appointments for more than four years, he was following the protocols of ICE, he was complying with everything he’s supposed to do. All of a sudden, he’s detained,” said the Rev. Jay Donahue, senior parochial vicar at St. Oscar Romero Parish.
On Sunday, congregation members and others turned out for the blessing of a community garden at Canonsburg’s St. Patrick Church, a plot that Teran and his wife, Liseth Carvajal, and their two children, Kamila, 14, and Lukas, 5, played a large role in transforming into a garden.
The community garden was launched to bring together the local church community and the Latino church community, many of whom attend services at Miraculous Medal, where Donahue celebrates Mass in Spanish.
Teran helped till the ground, repaired a faulty tiller, and his family helped with planting and watering, with Liseth bringing along her homemade watermelon juice for refreshment.
Chris McAneny, director of housing for the nonprofit Wellness Collective, which led the garden installation, said Teran, who also delivers food to the needy, “is the neighbor that everyone would want.”
“He was building a life for himself and his family. He’s been contributing to his community and he’s well-respected within this community. He wanted to be a part of the community garden, and he was a big part of it. And when we put in the plants, he was here two days a week watering them,” said McAneny.
St. Oscar Romero Knights of Columbus started a GoFundMe for the family to help them with immediate needs like groceries and house payments, and the church is accepting donations. Friends and neighbors have provided meals.
They vow to fight Teran’s deportation with every resource they can muster. An attorney filed a court order seeking his release, and more than 20 individuals and groups – including Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh retired Bishop David Zubik, and representatives from the carpenters union – wrote letters on his behalf.
But Donahue and those supporting Teran believe time is of the essence to get him released – it’s been almost two weeks since he was detained – and they worry he could be deported soon.
Friends and family have not been allowed to visit Teran, whose only contact has been daily phone calls to his wife.
“She is worried about him being in jail and she wants him to be home soon,” said Donahue, who served as Liseth’s interpreter on Sunday.
She said her husband’s “situation is bad” and that he sleeps in an area with about 80 other detainees. Friends set up an account for him to pay for phone calls, for which he is charged.
Said Donahue, “We’re waiting. We’re on standby. We don’t know where he will end up, and it’s hard to understand what he would be expected to do there. Jesus is not someone who should be subjected to this undignified experience that he’s going through. It’s a shame the way they are treating him; it is inhumane. It’s been inspiring to see the community rally around Jesus and to recognize what he means to our community.”
Teran’s daughter, Kamila, said the community’s response has been overwhelming.
“I feel like it’s been more than a community, it’s like a family. They’ve helped us so much, and we’re so grateful,” she said. “We’re thankful that Father Jay has reached out so much. It’s been hard, but the community has brought us so much strength. We feel so supported.”
McAneny is horrified by the increase in deportations across the country since President Donald Trump took office, pledging tighter border security and the deportation of criminals. He fears Trump’s immigration policies have instead resulted in the arrest of hardworking people like Teran, who pose no danger to American communities.
According to the latest ICE statistics, as of June 29, there were 57,861 people detained by ICE, and 71.7% of detainees – 41,495 – had no criminal convictions.
Teran has no criminal record.
“Deporting Jesus doesn’t make this a safer place. It’s creating havoc and fear. He was contributing to his community, raising his family, paying taxes, and now he’s in a detention facility separated from his family,” said McAneny. “We are all-hands-on-deck to support Jesus, his wife and his kids as much as we can. This is my neighbor, this is my friend. He’s a part of my community, and I want him back.”
Liseth and the couple’s daughter entered the U.S. in 2019 to seek asylum on a B-2 visa, after threats to Liseth’s life. Jesus, who had been denied entry to the U.S. in 2015, entered the U.S. in 2021 on asylum and the family lives in Imperial.
Liseth, who was an administrator in Venezuela, had worked at Amazon when she moved to the U.S. She had applied to renew her work visa long before it expired, but it has not yet been renewed.
Donahue, who served in Mexico for eight years and offers pastoral assistance to the Latino community, acknowledges the immigration system needs to be reformed, but tearing families apart isn’t the answer, he says.
“We need some type of pathway here. Jesus is here because of the trauma in Venezuela,” said Donahue. “To put him in jail and separate him from his family isn’t the right option.”
Liseth doesn’t know when she will see her husband again, but has found comfort in the church and the community that has helped her family.
“People have given us everything: legal help, they’ve been helping us out financially, they’ve been helping us out emotionally,” she said. “We’ve felt enveloped and loved by the entire community, and we’re thankful to God for that.”
Note: To make a donation by check to the family through the Knights of Columbus, St. Oscar Romero Parish asks that people mail a check payable to Knights of Columbus 3291, and in the memo line write, “Our family in need,” and mail the check to St. Oscar Romero Parish St. Patrick Church, Attention Knights of Columbus, 317 W. Pike St., Canonsburg, Pa., 15317. Cash donations can be dropped off at St. Patrick Church in an envelope marked “Our Family in Need,” or place an envelope in a collection basket at Mass.