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This 'Dreamer' priest decries use of the Bible to support restrictive immigration policies
Nancy Frausto, one of the few undocumented priests on DACA, at St. Luke's Episcopal Church where she is associate rector.
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Josie Huang/KPCC
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Nancy Frausto walks through the Long Beach campus of St. Luke's Episcopal Church with the rector, Jane Gould.
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Josie Huang/KPCC
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Outside St. Luke's Episcopal Church, a banner reads 'Sanctuary for All.'
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Josie Huang/KPCC
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Nancy Frausto joins other protestors in downtown Los Angeles in a June 26 rally against the Trump administration's immigration policies.
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Josie Huang/KPCC
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This 'Dreamer' priest decries use of the Bible to support restrictive immigration policies
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When U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session quotes the Bible as he defends policies intended to keep migrant families out of the country, the Rev. Nancy Frausto reacts like some of her fellow faith leaders. She wants him to stop.
But more so than for other clergy, the stakes feel especially high for her. Frausto, associate rector at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach, is undocumented, one of a few “Dreamer” priests in the entire country and perhaps the only woman in this group.
“We have allowed our faith to be hijacked by domestic terrorists hiding behind three-piece suits and the Bible,” Frausto said in a recent sermon met by applause.
Now 35, Frausto was brought to Los Angeles from Mexico at age 7, escaping poverty and violence in Mexico like many of the families now being stopped at the border, she said.
This is her story.
Josie Huang covers religion, international affairs and the Southern California diaspora under a grant from the Luce Foundation.
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