Construction by Mennonite Disaster Service’s Texas unit of a new building for a Mennonite church plant in Lamesa, Texas, has been delayed after deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in late August impacted volunteers in the Old Colony Mennonite community.
MDS Region 3 interim regional administrator Jeff Koller said volunteers from the Seminole area about 40 miles away had prepared the site for pouring concrete before hitting a snag with getting architectural blueprints certified. By the time that was resolved, ICE established itself in Seminole, which is home to multiple Colony Mennonite congregations that speak Plautdietsch (Low German), with roots in Mexico.
“MDS volunteers from the Seminole Mennonite churches are citizens, but they relate to people who aren’t. The presence of ICE is making people scared, and some are self-deporting to Chihuahua in Mexico because they don’t want to sit in a prison if they are detained,” Koller said Sept. 16. He said MDS does not know of any volunteers being deported, but the ripple effects of ICE activity on area employment impacts volunteer availability.
ICE did not visit the church work site in Lamesa, and no one from that congregation — Iglesia Cristo La Roca (Christ the Rock Church) — was impacted by the immigration enforcement activities in Seminole.
Western District Conference of Mennonite Church USA, which has supported the church plant, shared a call for prayer Sept. 15 for congregations in Lamesa and San Antonio affected by detentions and deportations.
“The church plant began meeting on Jan. 15, 2025, with five founding members,” said WDC conference minister Heidi Regier Kreider. “By now, the congregation has grown to over 30 active participants, including families and individuals from the surrounding Spanish-speaking community. . . . We are grateful for MDS’s willingness to partner with this church plant and with WDC as we continue to provide support and accompaniment for the Anabaptist church community and witness in Lamesa.”
MDS does not typically build churches. But Regier Kreider contacted the organization after hail and wind damaged the church building in which the pastoral family was living.
“As we evaluated it, the structure needed major repairs, and due to its age, it would be an ongoing problem,” Koller said. “I contacted our friends in Seminole who have been active with MDS for many years, and it excited them since it’s a church plant in their neighborhood.
“It was determined it would be cheaper to build new than to fix it. Money came out of heaven, there’s no other explanation, with other MDS units in Oklahoma and South Dakota adding funding.”
The Department of Homeland Security reported ICE set a new monthly arrests record during the Trump administration in August, with 50,925 people detained. This broke the record of 50,208 people arrested in July, which broke the record of 43,900 people arrested in June. Immigration arrests before Trump took office averaged around 8,000 per month. Arrests dramatically increased this summer, especially in Texas and Florida.
The New York Times reported that less than 4% of those arrested had a violent criminal conviction.
Western District continues to monitor how immigration policies impact its congregations. The conference is part of an ecumenical group hosting the Texas Faithful Response Immigration Gathering Oct. 4-6 in New Braunfels for immigrants in impacted communities and those seeking to be in solidarity with them.
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