When a member of the First Parish Congregational Church in Saco was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 23, fellow parishioners sprang into action.
His wife had just undergone an emergency C-section. His baby is still in the hospital. And the man, whose first name is Makengo, has three other young children at home.
Volunteers from the church and the local Rotary Club are doing everything they can to support him and his family, even undertaking covert operations.
They call it the Makengo Command Center. Just inside the church, there’s a table with a signup sheet for volunteers, a jar for donations and information about who Makengo is and what can be done to help.
The church has also set up a GoFundMe for Makengo’s family that has raised more than $50,000.
“We’re just asking people if you’re available to help in some capacity but it’s changing everyday, so we don’t know exactly what that looks like yet,” said Aubrey, who like others in this story asked that we not use her last name for fear of compromising the family’s safety.
Aubrey is the chief organizer of the church response, including arranging rides for the mother, making meals, being prepared to deal with what comes next and writing members of Maine’s congressional delegation.
“And you can get as nasty as you want, OK? I do,” she said.
Aubrey’s children and Makengo’s are friends. They go to school and church together. So when Makengo, who is known as a hardworking community volunteer and loving father, was arrested by ICE, not only was she distraught but also had to try to explain it to the kids.
“Trying to explain to them that Makengo had been taken even though he hadn’t done anything wrong and because of the color of his skin is really hard to explain to children because things like that don’t make sense,” she said.
“We are both heartbroken and enraged by this,” pastor Scott Cousineau said in his Sunday service, two days after Makengo was arrested, trying to explain to the congregation what had happened. “And to those who have recently commented that my sermons have tiptoed too close to the line of being political, I am very sorry. But this is personal. This is our family. This is us.”
In an email, a spokesperson for ICE said Makengo legally entered the U.S. in December 2017, and he had permission to stay for six months, but violated the terms of his admission by staying for more than seven years.
Carol, one of the family’s primary contacts in Makengo’s absence, drops off a few groceries, some markers and Sunday school materials for the kids at their house. Makengo’s wife is recovering from emergency surgery and lives in constant fear that she’ll be separated from her four children.
Makengo’s wife said they arrived in the U.S. just over eight years ago and are seeking asylum. They have work permits and no criminal records.
“I’m scaring (sic), you know, because they take my husband. That’s why I’m scaring (sic) to go like outside,” she said.
To try to keep Makengo’s wife safe, Cousineau said church members try to limit visits to her house and are wary of giving out certain information. They also transport her to the hospital to visit her new baby in a somewhat clandestine fashion.
“This one family, they’ve got a system where they use two cars,” Cousineau said.
One car serves as a decoy and the other carries Makengo’s wife. Cousineau said it was the brainchild of a teenage boy who is helping with the operation. The drivers remain in telephone contact during the entire route.
“It’s fun and it makes us smile and laugh but at the same time they also recognize the real need to try to keep her safe in this frightening situation,” he said.
“I’ve just become more suspicious of people, which I’ve never been that way before,” Carol said.
She has become extremely protective of the family. On one occasion, Makengo’s wife called to say she was getting a ride to the hospital from another volunteer. Carol drove over to investigate.
“The mother called me and said that some church lady was taking her at noon and I became frightened because I didn’t know the name of the church lady, so … I was just gonna make sure that it wasn’t ICE,” she said.
In addition to church volunteers, the Biddeford Saco Rotary Club is also looking after Makengo’s family.
“He’s one of the best of the best. He’s someone who in his spare time asks, ‘How can I help?'” said Haley Thompson, president of the Biddeford Saco Rotary Club.
Thompson said Makengo, known as Mack in the club, was recently honored as the Rotarian of the Month because of his community service and spirit. Thompson said that Makengo joined because he believed “true value is giving, greater than receiving.”
“And he said Rotary is helping make the world a smaller village where people can live together in good will and peace,” she said.
Thompson said the club is now trying to help Makengo’s family pay mounting bills that are coming due and arranging a shower for his new baby. Everyone’s trying to take one day at a time because they know his detention could last a while.
But Carol says she’s encouraged by the outpouring of love from the community.
“I feel the Holy Spirit has been moving people with kindness to help out. It’s the one joy of this whole situation. It’s a sad situation, but I have hope,” she said.
Makengo, whose wife said he’s been moved a couple of times since his arrest, is currently being detained in Massachusetts.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.