​PRESS RELEASE
 
By Friends of Pastor Max  http://www.friendsofpastormax.org
 
Contact: Shana Peachey Boshart  319-936-5905  shanaboshart@gmail.com
 
Photo caption: On the one-year anniversary of his deportation, supporters of Pastor Max Villatoro visited officials in Washington D.C. Left to right: Tammy Alexander of Mennonite Central Committee, Attorney David Leopold, Gloria Villatoro, Shana Peachey Boshart and David Boshart of Central Plains Mennonite Conference, and Dave Sickles of Friends of Pastor Max.
 
One year after his deportation, Friends of Pastor Max press officials in Washington, DC for his return
 
Friends of Pastor Max and Gloria Villatoro say they are hopeful following meetings in Washington, D.C., March 20 and 21, the one-year anniversary of the deportation of Pastor Max Villatoro. 
 
When he was deported on March 20 of last year, Max Villatoro was co-pastor with his wife Gloria at Iglesia Torre Fuerte, a Central Plains Mennonite Conference congregation in Iowa City. Villatoro was licensed for ministry by this conference in 2012, and conference leaders had been working to gain legal status for Max. Two members of the delegation to Washington D.C., David Boshart and Shana Peachey Boshart, are Central Plains conference ministers.
 
With the help of Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Washington Office and Church World Service, the delegation held a prayer service in front of the White House on Sunday afternoon and on Monday held briefings for the House and Senate, visited congressional offices, and had an informal, off-the-record exchange of views with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials.
 
“Having met face-to-face with immigration policy officials in Washington, I became newly aware of the urgency of our situation,” reported David Boshart, executive conference minister for Central Plains Mennonite Conference. “The contacts we’ve made in the federal government could all change when the Obama administration ends, and we may then find ourselves starting over building bridges to the people who can bring Max home.”
 
“This trip reinforced for us that the key to helping the Villatoros is keeping Max’s story in the public eye,” commented Shana Boshart, also a conference minister for Central Plains Mennonite Conference. “There are folks in the government, the press and the public who see Max’s case as an important example of what is broken and needs to be fixed in the immigration system.”
 
Villatoro’s lawyer, David Leopold, repeated many times throughout the day, “I’ve never had a case where there’s been such continued community involvement. In this case, the public hasn’t gone away and is continuing the fight to get him back here and right the wrong.”
 
“At the briefings, our panel members gave a concise presentation of Max’s story and what we need from our legislators,” said Shana Peachey Boshart of Friends of Pastor Max.  “David Boshart gave the opening comments and introduced the panel.  Gloria Villatoro shared what it has been like for her family to have husband and father taken from them; David Leopold shared the legal framework for Max’s plight. Tammy Alexander of MCC Washington Office wrapped up the briefing with a plea to legislators to hold DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) accountable to their own policies and to press for a review of Pastor Max’s case.”
 
One disappointment for the delegation was the absence of any legislative staffers at the
Senate briefing.  Fortunately, the delegation had scheduled visits with Senate staff. “Senator Grassley and Senator Ernst both sent staffers to meet with us. They apologized for missing our briefing, saying they hadn’t learned about it in time,” explained Peachey Boshart, “This was in spite of the fact that many supporters had sent them email invitations. In any case, they were very polite and seemed interested in what we had to say.”
 
The delegation briefed Grassley and Ernst staff on the November 20, 2014 DHS memo which requires ICE to make deportation arrests on a case-by-case basis according to specific enforcement priorities.
 
“We pointed out that Pastor Max is a clear example of a person who did not pose a security risk. We asked that our senators hold ICE and DHS accountable to this policy," stated Peachey Boshart.
 
Dave Sickles of Friends of Pastor Max gave them a copy of the private bill (H.R. 4261) put forth by Representative Dave Loebsack calling for Max’s return, and told the staffers it is his “wild hope” that our Iowa senators would sign on as co-sponsors.
 
“We are grateful to the staff at Mennonite Central Committee and Church World Service for their financial support and their network of contacts that made this trip possible,” said David Boshart. 
 

This is the prayer folder that we used at the prayer service on March 20.  It begins on the upper right, continues on to the next page, and ends with the text on the upper left.

Last weekend, Grant & Edie Nebel and Don and Shirley Kempf visited Max in northern Mexico.  They made this video of Max giving an update and thanking his supporters.  There are two versions, one short and one longer.

Action: Send this letter to invite your members of Congress to attend one of two briefings about Pastor Max Villatoro and broader immigration issues.
Background: Pastor Max Villatoro's wife, Gloria Villatoro, his lawyer, David Leopold, and Tammy Alexander from the MCC U.S. Washington Office will be speaking on House and Senate briefing panels on March 21, 2016, one day after the one-year anniversary of Pastor Max's deportation. They will discuss Pastor Max's case and broader issues of U.S. immigration policy separating families and deporting individuals who pose no threat to public safety. By inviting your members of Congress to attend the briefings (or to send a staff member), you will help them to become educated on these issues.
Faith reflection: "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)
Action: Send this letter to invite your members of Congress to attend one of two briefings about Pastor Max Villatoro and broader immigration issues.

Alert prepared by Tammy Alexander, Senior Legislative Associate for Domestic Affairs, March 14, 2016.

http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5764/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1357977

Bring Pastor Max home
​
Actions: 

• Sign this petition today to urge Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson to bring Max Villatoro home to his family.
• Make a call this week to Secretary Johnson's office at (202) 282-8203 (talking points below).  

Background: Nearly one year ago, Iowa City pastor, beloved father, husband, and community leader Max Villatoro was deported to Honduras. Although we have mourned Pastor Max’s absence from his family, friends, and church, we have not given up our struggle to reunite the Villatoro family and bring Pastor Max home. We also continue to urge Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component of DHS, to follow their own guidelines and not deport immigrants, such as Pastor Max, who clearly pose no public safety concern and have close family and community ties in the United States.

Faith reflection: Please continue to pray that Max will be able to return to his family. Also pray for his wife, Gloria, and his children Anthony, Edna, Angela, and Aileen. Pray also for Max’s church community, his lawyer and others working to help him. Pray for government officials that their hearts will be opened.

Actions: 

• Sign this petition today to urge Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson to bring Max Villatoro home to his family.
• Make a call this week to Secretary Johnson's office at (202) 282-8203 (talking points below).

Sample talking points:

• Pastor Max’s family, church, and community continue to feel the great loss after he was deported to Honduras nearly a year ago. His deportation was a grave injustice that should be remedied by your office.
• Please urge ICE to follow their own guidelines. Pastor Max, and many others like him, never should have been deported. Max’s 20 years in the U.S., his young children, his service as a pastor and strong ties to the community should have been weighed against a 15-year old DUI conviction.
• Your office says that ICE is only deporting those who pose a threat to public safety, but this is not the case. Pastor Max is clearly not a threat to anyone but was an asset to his community.
• I ask you to correct this mistake immediately by returning pastor Max to his family in Iowa City.
• This is not just about Pastor Max, it’s about all the families across the country who are being needlessly separated. And it’s about the common sense, humane immigration enforcement President Obama has promised.

Additional resources: Worst of the worst report | Friends of Pastor Max | MCC immigration resources

http://mcc.org/get-involved/advocacy/alert/bring-pastor-max-home-0​