Jaime Edwards-Acton, reverend of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Hollywood, has become an advocate for indigenous Zapotec workers and their families in the face of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In addition to being a faith leader, he is a community organizer who is actively involved in resisting the raids by ICE and provide not only spiritual assistance but also food aid to their families.

He was one of the first to speak out when 14 Zapotec Indigenous people, members of his church, were arrested during the unexpected immigration operation at the Ambiance Apparel clothing store in the Fashion District.

“The raid on June 6th dealt a hard and devastating blow to the community.”

He remembers that one of the community leaders sent him a message that morning saying that ICE had taken the workers.

“The detention of 14 members of the Zapotec community created a lot of trauma for the families. We saw each other the Sunday after it happened. That was the last time we met in person for a while. People were so scared that we just connected and watched online, like we did during the pandemic.”

It took them two months before they returned to in-person church, simply because people had so much fear.

“When we returned in person, we arranged with a Jewish congregation to form a kind of patrol with volunteers who walked around the block of our property to watch for ICE.”

He says they locked the doors and controlled who entered and left the church.

“We decided that if ICE agents came, I would go out and tell them that the church was private property and they needed a warrant to enter. The plan was to create a safe and secure space so that those who were vulnerable and practicing their religion could feel at ease.”

Of the 14 Zapotec indigenous people detained by ICE, 11 were released on bail with an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet; three were deported,One of them was tricked; another no longer wanted to be in Adelanto, far from his family, and self-deported; yet another fought to the end, until he waived his right to appeal. In October,another indigenous member of the Episcopal religious community of San Esteban was arrested; and was released at the end of December. “So a total of 15 people connected through our community have been arrested by immigration agents, but we managed to free 12 and three were deported to Veracruz,” says Pastor Jaime, as he is known in the Zapotec community. Two sisters, Jennifer and Citlali Alejo, community organizers from the San Francisco Bay Area, connected to the community, launched the Zapotec Struggle movement to free the Zapotec Indigenous people detained in the raid. "They did an incredible job. They started with a press conference the next morning, which I spoke at, and that kicked off this campaign that received a lot of attention, and they were able to raise a considerable amount of money online through GoFundMe, something like $250,000 to hire lawyers and pay bail." Part of their work was getting help so that the families of the detained Indigenous workers could have food and money to pay for the rent, and take that worry away from them.

“Some families participated in marches, as well as holding vigils and prayers.”

When they reunited in person, Pastor Jaime says it was moving to see the families of the detained immigrants surrounded and hugged to let them know they weren't alone.

He recalls that the first Indigenous workers released from the Adelanto Detention Center joined an online Sunday service.

“In the middle of the service, I simply recognized him and invited him to speak. He described the entire experience as very dehumanizing, from being detained and then left chained in a van for 17 hours without using the bathroom.”

The worker recounted that when they arrived in Adelanto, it was overcrowded and cold.

“There weren't enough places, and sometimes they had to sleep on the floor, but when he was halfway through his story, he broke down. He couldn't take it anymore. It was very sad, moving, and very brave of him to share what he went through.”

The reverend says that 80% of his church members are Hispanic. He speaks Spanish fluently.

“It's not common for such a close-knit indigenous community, like the Zapotec community of Veracruz, and some families from Oaxaca living in Los Angeles, to join the Episcopal Church, but they did because they didn't have a welcoming church.

“An Episcopal priest would come for some of their celebrations, like St. Mark's Day. So, when we met two years ago, I started talking about whether they would be interested in having a church as a base.

“Finally, we adapted to each other and decided that they would become part of St. Stephen. However, the identity of their town is tied to their patron saint, St. Mark; that's why we keep his image in our chapel. There are about a hundred of them.”

It all starts in Los Angeles

The pastor says that while Los Angeles hasn't experienced what happened in Minneapolis, everything we're seeing in the country started here in June.

“As a religious community, we went downtown every day, when the National Guard, the sheriff, the police, the California Highway Patrol, and not to mention Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were there, and we tried to organize ourselves nonviolently.”

I thought, “Thank God we don't have this level of violence here and no one has been killed. But I was "Wrong. Workers have died here, like in the case of Robert Montoya in Monrovia, when he was chased down the highway near a Home Depot, or the worker who fell from the roof in Oxnard." In various counties in Southern California, Pastor Jaime leads a rapid response network calling on people of faith to participate in and monitor ICE actions. Have churches participated as expected in this campaign of raids and arrests of immigrants in Los Angeles? "I think so, but we could also do much more. It's part of our calling. That's why we organize all kinds of training sessions with clergy and faith communities. I'm co-chair of what we call Sacred Resistance." He explains that they have existed since 2016, during Trump's first term, and it's basically a faith-based response to what is happening. "We focus on our diocese, which covers six counties. It's a large diocese. We want to organize ourselves properly, not only in Los Angeles, but also in Oxnard, Ventura, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, and Santa Maria." as well as in the Inland Empire and Orange County.”

He clarifies that Sacred Resistance is not exclusively Episcopalian, but it originates from his church.

“We work with other churches, with rabbis, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and many different denominations, and even Roman Catholics.

“After the murder of Alex Petri, we organized a very quick action on Saturday night. Archbishop Jose Gomez joined the action right in front of the cathedral and spoke at the vigil we had planned that same day.”

He says part of their purpose is to respond nonviolently to what is happening.

“Nonviolence does not mean being passive. We raise our voices. 50 families.

“For those who can't eat for their food box because they don't feel safe, we have volunteers who deliver it.”

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