Gypsum pastor working to help immigrants navigate new enforcement rules

This story, headline and cutline have been corrected to reflect that Hector Gonzalez is a registered representative, not an attorney.

Hector Gonzalez wears a lot of hats.

Gonzalez, the pastor of Connect Church in Gypsum, has been a cardiac medical technician at Vail Health. He’s also an immigration representative, so he’s been hearing a lot of questions lately.

Gonzalez’s firm, Connect Immigration, is a branch of the church, along with a school and child care facility. Connect Immigration has recently been fielding between 1,200 and 1,400 calls per month from people wondering how to navigate immigration law. Many of those people are in this country without documentation.

Connect Immigration over the past three years has helped about 2,000 clients, many on a pro bono, or free, basis. The firm, which operates as a nonprofit, helps other clients on a “low bono,” or reduced rate, basis.

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Gonzalez’s firm is registered as an “accredited representative” with the U.S. Department of Justice, so it helps people navigate federal immigration law.

Finding accredited representatives is important, Gonzalez said. There are a lot of people taking advantage of people in trouble, he said.

A lot of help is needed

Many people find themselves in need of help right now.

Due to recent changes in federal immigration policies, there have been big changes in immigration courts over the past several months, Gonzalez said.

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“You have to be diligent in searching out the new norm,” Gonzalez said of working with immigration courts. “It’s very difficult to represent clients in the environment that we’re in.”

Before someone gets to an immigration court, Gonzalez said he urges everyone who finds themselves facing arrest or detainment to know their rights. While those facing arrest under immigration laws have rights, those rights are limited.

Someone in this country without documentation has violated federal law, he noted. In the eyes of immigration law, those people are criminals, Gonzalez said, a hard term for many people to accept.

The first thing to do if detained, Gonzalez said, is to exercise the most fundamental right — the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The first advice Gonzalez gives clients is to give the detaining officer only his or her full name. That’s it.

Also, “The manner in which you conduct yourself is super important. Try not to make any outburst or make any scene,” Gonzalez said. He added that an officer with Immigration and Customs and Enforcement — ICE — has discretion whether or not to take someone in. A person’s attitude can make a difference in those situations, he said. It might not, but it could.

In addition, Gonzalez’s clients also carry a letter of representation — an official form known as a G-28 — from Connect Immigration. That form instructs federal officers to contact Connect Immigration for more information after a client is detained.

Don’t make a scene

Gonzalez also wants everyone around a detained person to stay cool if an arrest is made. When a subject is taken into custody, ICE officers can detain U.S. citizens, and those people can be charged with obstruction, especially if an incident is captured on video.

Since ICE federal agents rarely wear body cameras, details of an incident usually come down to an officer’s word against that of a suspect, he said. In those cases, the officer’s word often prevails.

While Gonzalez has multiple roles in his professional life, he has to be especially careful when he represents people who are also members of his church.

“There are lines I don’t want to cross, both as (a representative) and as a minister,” he said, adding that he can’t speak with someone about both church and legal matters in the same conversation.

“My position is unique,” Gonzalez said. But, whether as a pastor or as an representative, he has one mission in mind.

“I’m here to help anyone who needs it,” he said.