First Presbyterian Church in Elkhart, IN was filled with song and prayer Saturday as about 200 community members gathered for a bilingual prayer service in response to the proposed construction of a $100 million immigrant detention facility in Elkhart County.
Kicking off at 6 p.m., the community-wide prayer service featured representatives of over 50 local congregations, both Latino and Anglo, as well as numerous community members, all of whom gathered to express moral and biblical concerns related to the proposal by CoreCivic, one of the nation’s largest private prison operators, to build a $100 million facility of up to 1,400 beds that would be used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to the proposal, the new facility would be the largest of four regional detention facilities the federal government is seeking to open within close proximity to Chicago, Detroit, St. Paul, and Salt Lake City.
Helping to provide the welcome during Saturday’s service was the Rev. Rebecca Kuiken, pastor of First Presbyterian Church.
“We are honored to host all of the languages, cultures, denominations, pastors and Christians who are here tonight,” Kuiken said to the crowd. “We celebrate tonight that our faith in Jesus Christ joins us beyond barriers, languages and legal status.”
Also on hand to help explain the “why” of Saturday’s gathering was the Rev. Neil Amstutz, a pastor with the Waterford Mennonite Church of Goshen.
“Why are we here? We are here because the churches of Jesus in this county follow a lord who, as a child, was himself a vulnerable refugee in a foreign country. We are here because the Bible commands us to show compassion to the foreigner and the stranger in our midst, to treat the least of these as if we were treating Jesus himself,” Amstutz said.
“We are here to be witnesses for human decency and Christian unity in our county, despite the forces of division, of dehumanization, and of profiting from the imprisonment of other human beings. And most of all, my friends, we are here because we are people of faith, and people of faith are praying people. That’s what we do. Many people, including Christians, may organize, and protest, and write letters in the face of injustice. But prayer is uniquely the language and the practice of people of faith. When a dark shadow appears in our land, if God’s people don’t pray, and seek God’s face, then who will?”
PROJECT TIMELINE
CoreCivic has indicated plans to seek a rezoning of the 61.5 acre property along C.R. 7, just north of C.R. 26 and across the road from the Elkhart County Landfill, currently being targeted for the new facility. That process has been delayed by approximately 30 days at the company’s request, according to a recent statement by Elkhart County Commissioner Mike Yoder.
In light of the delay, county planning department Director Chris Godlewski recently noted the Elkhart County Plan Commission is set to hear the rezoning request at its Feb. 8 meeting, to be followed by a final vote by the Elkhart County Board of Commissioners during the board’s March 19 meeting.
According to the company’s application, CoreCivic would immediately begin the planning process for building the new detention facility should the commissioners vote to approve the rezoning request.
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