TEXAS IMMIGRATION WEBINAR
Recorded: Thursday, March 20, 2025
Join us to learn important, current information about immigration policy in Texas and how it affects you, your congregants, and your community. This webinar is open to all and will cover specific church rights to federally focused policy. Our experts will cover:
- Know Your Rights for churches so you can safely and effectively serve your immigrant neighbors, Omar Chacón, Mission Specialist, Migration Accompaniment Ministry, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
- Understanding the Family Expedited Removal Program (FERM) and other Federal Immigration Policy, Alexandra Villarreal, National Immigration Forum
- Learn what's happening on the Texas border, Rev. Marta Pumroy, Border Ministry Coordinator for the Tres Rios Presbyterian Border Foundation
This presentation will be recorded as a reference if you cannot attend.
Sponsored by Grace Presbytery
Omar Chacón
Omar Salinas Chacón is the mission specialist for the Migration Accompaniment Ministries a ministry within Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. Omar helps coordinate the church's response to refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants who forced to leave their homes. Omar has DACA and comes from a mixed status family. This has driven him to do immigration advocacy for a little over a decade now.
Alexandra Villarreal
Alexandra Villarreal is a journalist and policy analyst focused on 21st-century humanitarian migration solutions. Born and raised in Corpus Christi, she has deep roots in Texas, where she returned to receive her graduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin focused on humanitarian migration history and policy. She is now based in San Antonio. Her reporting has appeared in Texas Monthly, The Guardian, NBC Latino, the Associated Press, and other national and international outlets. As a Graduate Archer fellow, she had the privilege of working for the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship, and recently, she handled the National Immigration Forum's humanitarian relief portfolio.
Rev. Marta Pumroy
Reverend Marta Pumroy is the Border Mission Coordinator for the Tres Rios Presbyterian Border Foundation. As a Presbyterian minister, she is situated at a historic site on the border wall between El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico. In her role with Tres Rios, she works to connect PCUSA congregations to the border and advocates for narrative, system, and personal change.
Rev. Marta spent 20 years as a dedicated school teacher before focusing on ministry. She served as a ruling elder from East Iowa Presbytery on the Special Committee for Racism Truth and Reconciliation (2018-2022) and the General Assembly Nominating Committee (2023-2024).
Marta holds a Master’s in Education from Graceland University and earned her Master of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 2024. After graduating, she moved to El Paso with her fiancé to answer the call to serve on the border with Tres Rios Presbytery.