Faith Leaders Decry ICE Detention of Pastors as 'Terror Campaign'

Pastor Nepthalí Zozaya Saucedo and his wife, Cinthia Saraí Cardona Otero, serve the Comunidad Cristiana Emanuel Assemblies of God in Edinburg, Texas. According to church leadership, the couple possessed valid R-1 religious worker visas when they were intercepted while en route to a Billy Graham Evangelistic Association event in North Carolina. They are currently held at a U.S. Border Patrol processing center.

From detention, Zozaya Saucedo reported that federal agents threatened to separate the couple from their U.S.-citizen children unless they agreed to deportation. Sandy Ovalle of the Latino Christian National Network condemned the tactic as a violation of due process, while a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson countered that the pastors are considered illegal aliens who overstayed their visas.

The standoff in McAllen follows a broader mobilization of religious groups across Texas against federal immigration enforcement. During a press conference in Austin, clergy members cited the recent deaths of several individuals in ICE custody, including Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, as evidence of a systemic "terror campaign." Dan De Leon, senior pastor at Friends Congregational Church, characterized these operations as an affront to core religious values. The outcry coincides with nationwide vigils held across 300 communities to protest the treatment of detainees and demand accountability for deaths occurring under the current administration.