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Forest Hills Church to Assist Undocumented Immigrants Amid Deportation Fear

By Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | March 27, 2017 8:29am
 First Presbyterian Church of Forest Hills, led by Pastor Jack Lohr (inset), recently hang a banner welcoming immigrants and refugees.
First Presbyterian Church of Forest Hills, led by Pastor Jack Lohr (inset), recently hang a banner welcoming immigrants and refugees.
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First Presbyterian Church of Forest Hills/Facebook

QUEENS — As fears about deportation grip the city’s undocumented immigrants amid recent arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a Forest Hills church hopes to help by providing free legal advice and making them feel welcome.

First Presbyterian Church of Forest Hills, at 70-35 112th St., recently hung a banner over its entrance that reads "immigrants and refugees welcome."

Earlier this week the church also issued a declaration in support of undocumented immigrants.

“As a diverse community in one of the most diverse places in the world — Queens, NY — we pledge to offer solace and comfort to our undocumented neighbors in the form of tangible services, such as referrals to legal assistance or long-term sanctuary options; and identifying those who can offer this advice to them in their own language,” church leaders wrote in the statement.

Pastor Jack Lohr, who took over the parish about a year ago, said the declaration was issued in response to the current political climate.

“We understand that given the climate right now there is a lot of anxiety and uncertainty, and our own congregation is a congregation of immigrants,” he said.

“It’s the United Nations,” he joked about his 125 parishioners, most of whom are immigrants from the Caribbean, Latin America and Europe as well as India, China and Taiwan.

Several, he said, are undocumented.

Lohr collaborates with Judson Memorial Church in the Greenwich Village, which is known for its support of immigrant New Yorkers and is leading the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City, a group focused on social justice that includes enlisting houses of worship to provide refuge to undocumented immigrants during ICE raids, either temporarily or long-term.

Lohr's Forest Hills parish won't be able to house undocumented immigrants, but because his congregation is plugged into the sanctuary network, they could potentially refer families in need of refuge to other houses of worship.

The church will soon begin organizing free trainings led by an immigration attorney advising people what they should do in case they have an encounter with federal immigration agents.

The workshops, he said, will focus on issues like developing a plan what to do with children in case parents are being detained.

He also hoped the banner over the church's entrance will make people feel welcome.  

"It's a beautiful reminder that Jesus and his family were also refugees," Lohr said.

“We really do dream of a world where everyone is welcome wherever they go,” he added.