Families gathered to worship on Sunday morning at Iglesia Restauracion Familiar, a Spanish-language Pentecostal church in northwest Charlotte.
But a week ago, as masked agents driving unmarked SUVs and vans roamed Charlotte, the scene was very different. The parking lot was empty and few people stood in the pews. Pastor Rudy Lopez said only a handful of families showed up.
“We had a rather low turnout, as people are very frightened by what's happening, and understandably so," Lopez said. "So there was little attendance."
Like many other Spanish-language churches in the area, Iglesia Restauracion Familiar, is home to numerous immigrants — some undocumented.
One woman at Sunday’s service reflected on the Border Patrol’s presence in the Charlotte area over the past week.
"I was driving and someone kept following me, I would brake and he would brake," the woman said, speaking in Spanish. "I recognized that he was a CBP agent, and I prayed, 'God, take him from behind me."
Lopez is one of many pastors who say CBP’s operations in Charlotte go against Biblical teachings.
“There is a promise from the Lord that we extend good hospitality to foreigners," Lopez said. "Our immigrant brothers and sisters were allowed by God to enter the county.”
Nine miles away in east Charlotte, Pastor Megan Argabrite leads Amity Presbyterian Church.
“It is my faith that requires me to respond and to be in solidarity with those who are being oppressed and harmed by this,” Argabrite said.
Amity Presbyterian Church hosts an English service and a Swahili service. Many Congolese immigrants call the church home. Last week, Argabrite and the Swahili pastor decided to hold a joint service to ensure its African immigrant congregation was safe while agents swept the city.
“We were like, no, we need to be together because a lot of our community, a lot of the African Fellowship, though they're not Spanish-speaking, Hispanic folks, they are still very clearly immigrants," Argabrite said.
Carolina Migrant Network confirmed sightings of CBP agents in neighborhoods across the street from Amity Presbyterian Church, as well as near other nearby churches.
The Grove Presbyterian Church sits off W.T. Harris Boulevard.. Carolina Migrant Network reported multiple CBP sightings across the street at East Town Market, where Compare Foods is located.
“It's terrifying to know that your friends and your neighbors are afraid of being taken by masked federal agents and that there's nothing you can do to stop it," Reverend Kate Murphy said.
Murphy's team took security measures last week to protect its congregation.
“We worshiped with all the doors but one locked," Murphy said. "We had a person keeping watch at the door and we had to make a plan for what we would do if agents came into the building and started grabbing people.”
Services are in English. Still, Murphy says her congregation is about 10% Latino.
Nationally, Latino Protestants are politically diverse and leaned right last year, despite Trump’s promised immigration crackdown. A CNN poll found about 64% voted for Trump in 2024.
But Murphy and other pastors say that even within congregations that may lean conservative, the recent immigration operations have stirred fear and raised questions about how faith should guide the response.
“I call upon the president of this nation, President Trump, to take note that he has 3 years left, 3 years to pave the way to victory for the candidate they will put forward as a party," Lopez said.
Lopez hopes Trump and the Republican Party will treat immigrants with greater dignity in the years ahead.
