Pastor, Stripper Team Up to Raise Money for Kids Affected by ICE Raids

Two professionals in very different fields have teamed up to raise money for families affected by the recent ICE raids in Mississippi.

Adam Ericksen, a pastor at Clackamas United Church of Christ in Milwaukie, Oregon, and Dawn Blu McCall, a stripper in Portland, said they were disturbed by the images of children who were reportedly separated from their parents during raids carried out by ICE agents on August 7 at several Mississippi food processing plants.

“We can see God working through a burning bush as with Moses, or we can see God working through strippers, and I say amen to that,” Ericksen said.

The two connected on social media and came up with a plan to gather donations for the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance.

McCall’s friend, Lauren Seeley, makes t-shirts and stickers for the cause. “We made $330 in seven minutes last Saturday,” McCall commented.

The congregation at Ericksen’s church have responded well to the alliance, according to the pastor. “They are excited about it. They have the same mission. When you hear Blu talk about her mission with Team Blu, it sounds like church,” he said.

The ICE raids on August 7 were part of the largest single-state raid in the history of the United States, according to Breitbart News. The agency arrested 680 illegal aliens.

“According to federal officials, some of the hundreds of illegal aliens arrested on Wednesday have already been ordered deported by an immigration judge and have refused to self-deport,” the report said.

On Thursday, Breitbart News reported that many of the individuals arrested stole the identities of Americans, living and dead, to work in the country illegally.

“The illegal workers, federal prosecutors say, purchased fraudulent Social Security documents for between $200 and $1,000 in order to work at the plants,” the report said. “In many of these cases, the illegal workers purchased stolen identities of dead American citizens.”

However, Breitbart News reported August 8 that 300 of the 680 arrested were released by ICE the same day on “humanitarian grounds.”

McCall said she wants to raise money for the children because “We are all sinners, and we are all saints, and we can still help our kids, because those kids are everybody’s kids,” she concluded.

The website of Clackamas United Church of Christ stated that the church is “an open and affirming, progressive Christian Church, seeking to live Jesus’ vision of inclusive community and mission.”