Pastors Nepthali Zozaya Saucedo and Cinthia Sarai Cardona Otero led their Edinburg, Texas, congregation on Sunday praising God for their recent release from immigration detention and praying for those left behind.
“As the body of Christ, we can intercede, and not just for our family and friends, but also for people we maybe haven’t even seen, but who also endure pain, who also suffer injustice, who are also fighting to see the light of the sun again and have dignified food for themselves, a space to sleep and a space to be, and above all, a space to be reunited with their families,” Zozaya said in Spanish, during a worship service where his voice cracked and he fought back tears.
The assistant pastors at Comunidad Cristiana Emanuel, an Assemblies of God church, were released on Saturday, two days after immigration agents detained the married couple when they were boarding a flight on their way to a retreat with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The retreat was their first time away from their three children, and Cardona said the trip had been “a dream” for them.
During the Sunday worship service and the livestreamed press conference that followed, the couple revealed new details about threats immigration agents allegedly made to coerce the couple to sign voluntary departure papers.
The day also represented an unusually united show of force backing the pastors’ release. Sandy Ovalle, a board member with the Latino Christian National Network, thanked a diverse group of organizations and individuals for supporting the couple, including the three major national organizations representing Latino evangelicals in political advocacy—which rarely work together—and a Democrat and Republican in Congress.
Several Assemblies of God pastors who were present, including Zozaya, who has served Comunidad Cristiana Emanuel over a decade, also prayed for God to intervene for a more just immigration policy and called for Christians to help accomplish that goal.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary Markwayne Mullin is a member of an Assemblies of God church, and nearly 9 in 10 members of the Assemblies of God voted for President Donald Trump in 2024.
A DHS spokesperson said in a statement that Zozaya and Cardona had overstayed a visa that expired in 2022 and that the married couple were detained on separate days—Cardona on Thursday and Zozaya on Friday. Faith leaders disputed that account, saying that the two had valid religious worker visas and were both detained on Thursday in the early morning.
DHS also said that Zozaya and Cardona must report in person in 6 months to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and must call in once a month. “All of their claims will be heard by a Justice Department immigration judge and they will receive full due process,” the statement said.
At the Sunday press conference, Cardona said that the couple were “prepared” to demonstrate their migration status with their documents when they went to the airport. “Our intention—from the moment God brought us to this country—has been to honor him and obey the laws,” she said through tears.
Her husband later added, “Our desire has never been to serve ourselves from this nation, but, quite the opposite, to serve this country with devotion and effort because we have been called to the families of this country and this community.”
On Friday, while in detention, Zozaya spoke on the phone to reporters, saying that the couple had been “pressured” with prolonged separation from their children—a 7-year-old and nearly-3-year-old twins—to sign voluntary departure papers.
On Sunday, Cardona described in detail the repeated attempts that she alleged immigration agents made to coerce them into signing papers: that they would be deported separately to different third countries, not their home in Mexico; that they could not make calls without signing the papers; and that they would face up to six months of incarceration without their sons.
A spokesperson from DHS denied those claims: “It is categorically false we would pressure someone to self-deport. The Trump Administration is utilizing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised.”
DHS has used various tools to pressure undocumented immigrants to self-deport, from releasing videos warning that “we will hunt you down,” to levying fines and threatening to refer immigrants to debt collectors.
Cardona also described a 2 a.m. interrogation, separate from her husband, in which she alleged that agents “cursed” at her and made fun of her. “The first time I went up to an agent, for a moment I felt peace because [they] began to mention the Bible to me, but then [they] began to mock me, because [they] said, ‘You Christians think that you can put God before everything and disobey the laws,’” she said.
Fearing separation from their sons, Cardona said the two signed the papers. Eventually, the couple learned there was a formal process for revoking their signatures, which they did, even as they said agents warning they would face “charges” for doing so.
Cardona attributed their eventual release to divine intervention: “God is doing something because this is not normal,” she said.
It was unclear what led to the couple’s release. Faith leaders supporting the couple have declined to elaborate on the couple’s legal status.
On Sunday, Cardona asked their congregation to sing with her and Zozaya the melody that resonated in their minds during detention. “In the storm, you give me calm. Nothing will stop your faithfulness,” the couple sang in Spanish.
Octavio Luna and Sarai Martinez Luna, a married couple who are senior pastors at Comunidad Cristiana Emanuel, led prayers of thanksgiving for God’s role in their release and for the many who advocated for Zozaya and Cardona’s release. “You have awoken hearts, Lord,” Luna prayed.
Martinez later said, “we broke barriers, and we united.”
A diverse group of organizations and individuals and have spoken out on behalf of the pastoral couple. They include the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, Conexión Pastoral, Border Perspective, the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, the Connected Americans initiative, the Latino Christian National Network, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas), and Democrat Bobby Pulido, a Tejano musician running to unseat De La Cruz. Rick Reyes, vice superintendent of the Texas Gulf Hispanic District and lead pastor at Templo Bethel in Pharr, Texas, led a prayer for government authorities. He noted God’s call to pray for those in authority, as well as the human errors those in authority can make. “They are clay vessels that on some occasions also intentionally go past what is just, go past what is honest, go past what is right. We pray, Lord, that you touch their lives. We pray, Lord, that you touch their hearts.”
