Detained pastor couple had religious worker visas, Assemblies of God leaders say

(RNS) — An Assemblies of God pastor has said he and his wife, also a pastor, were “pressured” with prolonged separation from their U.S. citizen children if they did not sign voluntary departure papers after immigration authorities detained them.

During a press conference Friday (July 24), hosted by leaders from the Assemblies of God and the Latino Christian National Network, Nepthali Zozaya Saucedo said he and his wife, who came to the U.S. legally, were repeatedly pressured to sign voluntary departure papers but that they had refused.

“They spoke with us about separation — to be separated from our children and even as married people,” Zozaya, 36, said in Spanish, speaking on the phone from detention at U.S. Border Patrol Central Processing Center in McAllen, Texas. “They spoke about how much time that we could end up spending here.”

At the press conference, Sandy Ovalle, a board member of the Latino Christian National Network, said Zozaya and his wife, Cinthia Sarai Cardona Otero, 34, have valid R-1 religious worker visas.

Sarai Martinez Luna, senior pastor at Comunidad Cristiana Emanuel in Edinburg, Texas, where Zozaya and Cardona are assistant pastors, emphasized how…