(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — With the threat of mass deportations from the incoming Trump Administration, a church in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood has switched its Spanish-language services from in-person to online.
Emma Lozano is pastor of Lincoln United Methodist Church on Damen Avenue near Cermak Road.
She worries that after President-elect Trump takes office, the federal government will target Spanish-language services at the church to find and deport undocumented immigrants.
She says online services will protect those worshipers.
“Just like during the pandemic. Then we were trying to protect ourselves from a disease, from something that was spreading – and now it's racism and it's separation of family, it's deportation,” Lozano said.
“It's a different kind of illness that has plagued this country and the target is our community.”
Also like during the pandemic, worship will not be impacted by the remote service.
“We can worship together without a building, without walls. We can still worship and we can be in fellowship and we can support the families without having to be in person because then we are just like sitting ducks. And I'm not going to participate in that. We must protect our families.”
Lozano also says the church has been vandalized and attacked by anti-immigrant extremists in the past.
While Spanish-language services at Lincoln United Methodist Church are now online, services in English will continue to be held in-person.
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