Carroll progressives hold vigil for immigrant rights

Carroll progressives gathered in Westminster’s Belle Grove Square on Friday night for a vigil supporting immigrant rights. More than 100 people assembled in the fading sun, around the central fountain, as some held signs reading "Listen to the children weep” or “Immigrants are welcome here.”

It was around 7:30 p.m. when the Rev. Dr. Marty Kuchma, of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, began speaking through a megaphone.

"Judaism in the book of Leviticus tells us, ‘When a foreigner resides among you in a land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native born. Love them as yourself for you were foreigners in Egypt,’ ” Kuchma said. And then, in a line that drew a chorus of response from the crowd, “Who can say what the golden rule is? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Kuchma addressed the call to be kind to strangers and migrants from several faith traditions, but in an interview ultimately appealed to what he said was basic humanity.

“I think that essentially we have known since the beginning of time that a human obligation is to be kind to strangers in our midst. It’s a basic, human way of connecting and we can’t step away from that,” he said. “We are all connected. The borders are artificial. Let’s get back to the real part of this.”

The vigil, which would end with an electric candlelight moment of silence in the twilight, was one of many such events coordinated around the country Friday by the progressive group Lights for Liberty, in protest of immigrants seeking asylum being held in detention centers and camps, and the policy of separating migrant children from parents begun by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

That was what drew Sue Smith and George Sherlock, of Westminster, to the square Friday.

“If we let our voices be heard, if we are large enough in number we can affect a change,” Smith said. “And we have to. We have to change this — this is wrong.”

While Lights of Liberty organizes nationally, Friday’s event in Westminster was organized by CarrollCAN, a “community action network,” according to the website, and the same loosely affiliated group of progressives that have been rallying outside of the Westminster branch of the Carroll County Public Library since January 2016, and organized the Carroll County women’s marches.

Megan Weinreich, of Westminster, was the organizer who spearheaded the vigil, and she said it was child and family separations and reports of squalid conditions and overcrowding in migrant detention facilities near the U.S.-Mexico border that drove her to take action.

“I just wanted an outlet. I’m tired of getting huffy and outraged about things that are happening that can’t help to stop or to curb,” Weinreich said. “This is a way for me to say I can do something. I can help somebody. I can make a difference in my community at least.”

Weinreich said that at the very least, she did not think the U.S. should be jailing people who are legally requesting asylum.

“You do your best to keep track of them but you don’t jail them and treat them like criminals,” she said. “They are running from unspeakable horrors in their home countries and we are imprisoning them? It’s mind-boggling.”

Kuchma acknowledged, however, the difficulty inherent in discussing a deeply political topic, where it can be argued that regardless of what faith traditions might say, actions being taken at the border are lawful implementations of immigration policy in the U.S.

“I think this is very complicated. I think we need to be here this evening doing this, but I think the harder work is having the conversation to get us through complexities,” he said.

“How do we formulate a process that is humane but also preserves the integrity of our country — that’s important — and how do [we] assuage peoples’ fear, which is largely beyond reason, but is real. How do we get there from here? That’s the big struggle.”