With nobody home after the arrest, Mitchell said the house was not locked or the door was not secured, and as a result items were taken from the home.

Mitchell said Rendon did not know Mitchell was coming when she arrived at the detention center, but Rendon was ready with instructions for people to call and other next steps to help Rendon and her family.

But the arrest was weighing on Rendon.

“She was really shook up,” Mitchell said. “I’ve never seen her shook up. I’ve also never seen her without lipstick; the officials took her in her pajamas and they wouldn’t let her get dressed.”

Issues with legal status

Bishop Paul Erickson of the Greater Milwaukee Synod said Rendon was a “candidate approved for ordination” but could not be ordained until she had legal status in the United States.

“She was caught in this in-between time,” Erickson said. “She’s a good preacher and she was filling in as kind of an independent contractor … but she was helping out, preaching some Sundays at Emaus in Racine.”