Marblehead minister advocates for rights of immigrants

MARBLEHEAD – The Rev. Wendy von Zirpolo has a message for all Americans: No human being is illegal.The Marblehead minister has led a congregation of about 150 adult members every Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead for seven years. A major tenet of the church is to be “engaged in the world to make it a better place,” von Zirpolo said. Since 2010, her mission has been to do just that through promoting racial equality and fair immigration policy.?What we need are programs and policies that help keep immigrant families together rather than tearing entire communities apart and separating parents from children,” she said.Von Zirpolo is currently in Arizona continuing to fight for immigrants? rights as part of Standing on the Side of Love, a public advocacy campaign that was started by the church but also welcomes nonmembers. She encouraged North Shore citizens to join the cause in solidarity by having their own “witness for justice and peace” events in honor migrants and their families from June 20 to June 24.The mother of four girls said her passion for racial equality also began in Arizona two years ago, when her church?s general assembly coincided with state-wide protests of SB 1070, a state law that requires any immigrant older than 14 who is in the country for more than 30 days to register with the U.S. Government, and to carry their registration papers with them at all times or face criminal charges. Von Zirpolo protested the law, and was even arrested during a “planned act of civil disobedience,” an experience she called “transformational.”?I saw who the law was affecting and they were families?grandparents pushing strollers and pulling out juice boxes. “During her time in the southwest, immigrant families and couples from Mexico and Guatemala told von Zirpolo stories of families torn apart by immigration laws. The stories moved her to take her mission back to the Bay State, where she began a fervent campaign against the Department of Homeland Security?s Security Communities program, which she called “an inhumane system of detention and deportation that separates parents and children.”She said vigils and protests in the state against the program have been “heartbreaking.”?I?ve stood with children whose parents are detained and children who have experienced hatred because they ?look like? they might be undocumented Mexicans.”Before Secure Communities, local law enforcement was required to forward all fingerprints to the FBI, but under the program, which began in Massachusetts on May 15, the FBI forwards those same fingerprints to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. If the person is found to be an illegal immigrant, a decision on deportation will be made on a case-by-case basis, according to a Department of Homeland Security press release.Secure Communities is already active in Boston, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and nearly 2,800 jurisdictions in 48 states, according to the press release. The remainder will likely go into effect by 2013.?Cross borders of every kind. Build relationships on busses, in supermarkets,” she advised. “Get to know people. It?s what brought marriage equality to this state – it?s all relational, and it?s powerful when it?s rooted in love.”