I just received an e-mail from a former parishioner which is unfortunately far too familiar:
Dear friends,
Jeff and I are urgently asking for your help and time is of the essence. Our good friend and next door neighbour, Chris Holness, was taken from his house Sunday morning. He and his family were getting ready to go to their church, Grace United Methodist in Mt. Juliet, when 4 agents from I.C.E ( customs and immigration enforcement) knocked on their door at 7:30am. At first the agents didn’t think they had the right person, as Chris is a clean cut, happy, family man. They had a deportation order for a Jamaican man who missed a court hearing in Florida in 1997. Unfortunately it was Chris. But he had no idea about this missed court date because the lawyer he had in Florida never told him about it. But the I.C.E agents didn’t care about that – they took Chris away from his wife of 18 years, his 6th grade son and 8th grade daughter and took him to jail. He was held in Nashville until Tuesday morning and has since been moved to Alabama. His wife Jean is very distraught as you can imagine. She has not been able to talk to Chris since Sunday. She has tirelessly been trying to contact immigration lawyers, congressman and now the news media to help her stop Chris from being sent to Jamaica. He has not lived their since he was 12. He knows nobody there and will have no-where to go. Jean has been able to get help from her minister at Grace UMC. The church is trying to get a safe place organised for Chris to go once he is ‘dropped off’ in Jamaica. He will have only the clothes on his back, no way toget money for food, phone calls, clothes, etc.
Jean has been told she has about 3 – 5 days before Chris is sent from Alabama to Louisiana and then flown down to Jamaica. Once he is out of the U.S. the chances of Chris ever being able to come back to the U.S. are slim. So we need to act now. Please, please tell anyone you know who may have a contact with I.C.E, or in government that Chris Holness should not be deported. He deserves his case to be heard and his children to have their father at home where he belongs. Even the detaintees at Gitmo were given hearings!!!
Chris made some bad choices when he was younger but since turning his life around with the Lord’s help he is a changed person. Jeff and I adore this family. They are very special to us and this is just a nightmare for them all that unfortunately they can’t just ‘wake up’ from.
Here is what you can do to help:
1. Call your Senator/Congressman and ask them to help
Sen. Corker 615-279-9488
Sen. Alexander 615-269-4803
Congressman Jim Cooper 615-736-5295
Congressman Bart Gordon 615-451-5174
2. Email local media and ask them to take this issue up. Channel 5, 4 and 2 have websites with email addresses for their reporters. Let’s swamp them with requests to bring this story to light and get some attention so this Mt. Juliet father can come home to his family.
3. Please get this story out. You never know who’s friend of a friend may have a great contact with I.C.E.
4. Above all Jean has asked for prayers!! We truely believe that the Lord will answer them!! Keep Jean in your prayers as she is working round the clock to bring Chris back. At the same time she is trying to keep positive for her two fantastic kids!! She is incredible and Jeff and I want to do all we can to help and we hope you will too. please read the attachments and call if you have any questions.
Thanks so much,
Hayley
Letters like this have become a part of our culture, and in most cases little can be done to effect change in the subject’s immigration status. I wonder if some day these letters will be collected by historians as a symbol of a society that can’t figure out a way to welcome all.
