Bronx religious leaders hold prayer for neighbors fearful of ICE enforcement following shooting

Frances Sadler, center, said immigration enforcement tactics are part of a broader shift away from social justice.

Local Christian and Jewish leaders guided more than a dozen residents in a prayer of lament and hope on the corner of West 231st Street and Kingsbridge Avenue Oct. 20, prompted by the shooting of Oscar Belgal in Marble Hill by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer and growing concern about ICE presence in the neighborhood.

Christ Church Riverdale’s Mother Emily Lukanich said the idea arose from realizing there was a community need to verbalize the fear residents are feeling, and move forward. Faith leaders need to challenge the idea that Christianity, Judaism, or Islam is the only way, she said, and working together strengthens the community.

Church of the Mediator on West 231st Street, Christ Church Riverdale on Henry Hudson Parkway East, Grace Tabernacle on Corlear Avenue and the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale on West 250th Street were among the local religious institutions represented.

Belgal was shot in the neck by a federal agent Oct. 8 with his 5-year-old son in the back of the car, according to officials. He is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the shooting happened during a targeted enforcement operation, and cited Belgal’s prior arrests, also alleging Belgal had ties with the Trinitarios gang. Local and citywide protests have erupted in response, with New Yorkers demanding change.

Lukanich opened the service with a call for unity despite differences.

“We are all here, feeling grief, anger, fear and hope,” she said. “We come from many different faiths, and some of us have no faith at all … What we share is a concern for the dignity of every person, a desire for justice and a need to support one another in this time of great difficulty.”

Similar sentiments were shared by Church of the Mediator’s Father Frank Morales, who hoped the gathering gave a voice to neighbors’ sorrow and longing for justice.

“We come as neighbors,” he said to a growing crowd, as his wife Vanessa Morales handed white flowers to passersby, inviting them to join. “Carrying what is too heavy to bear alone.”

In between sentences as speakers rotated, the crowd said in unison, “We will lament and not hold back.”

Rabbi Barry Dov Katz of the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale recited a passage from the Ketuvim that celebrates triumph over hardship. Grace Tabernacle’s Leslie Polanco-Linares, who is also an immigration lawyer, referenced the biblical teaching of welcoming strangers.

After the service, attendees filtered inside the Church of the Mediator, conversing underneath the cathedral ceiling and arched wooden fixtures. Among them was Raj Rajput, who owns Warriors Sports Club on West 231st Street, and has been a U.S. citizen for almost 35 years. He said ICE is detaining people indiscriminately, and even he could be at risk.

“To them, I’m illegal too because I’m a little dark-skinned,” Rajput said of the federal agents. “If I don’t have my papers and stuff, I could be just taken away and put away and nobody will know.”

Frances Sadler, a member of the Church of the Mediator for nearly four decades, said the gathering served as a reminder that no matter the religious tenets, it’s all the same God. She said she sees aggressive immigration enforcement tactics as part of a broader pattern.

Sadler has been part of the movements that led to diversity, equity and inclusion policies, women’s reproductive rights, and other reforms she believes the Trump administration is rolling back. It’s disheartening to see things she’s worked for her entire life disappear with the stroke of a pen, she said.

“He’s gotten rid of all the things that earlier generations decided were unfair and inhuman,” Sadler said. “They fought and marched and wrote legislation to put things in place to protect people. He’s erased them all.”