It’s late morning at Clinton Avenue United Methodist Church where a cafeteria has been transformed into a satellite of the Mexican Consulate in New York City. Consular officials will be at the site through Saturday handling requests for identity cards, dual citizenship applications and other paperwork.

“If they weren’t here, we would have to go to New York City, make an appointment and then probably spend a day or two to get it,” said Armando Estrada, who came to the church with his wife Brianne to get a dual citizenship certification for their newborn daughter. “[The mobile consulate] makes it a lot easier and faster. We were in and out in an hour-and-a-half.”

The consular visit has been a twice-a-year ritual in Kingston for at least a decade, serving Mexican nationals who, according to census data, make up about 40 percent of Kingston’s Latino population. David Sosa, head of the local nonprofit House of Culture, coordinates the consular visits. For the past three years, the church at 166 Clinton Ave. has hosted the event.

Inside the church cafeteria a DMV-style operation has been set up as about two dozen people sit on folding chairs waiting for their names to be called. At the front of the room is a row of desks with pull-down background screens for photographs. There, consular staff interview clients, review documents and issue papers including passports, birth certificates and “Matriculas Consulares” – an official ID for Mexican nationals living abroad.

“Those are important if you’re trying to open a bank account or get credit, stuff like that,” said Pablo Leone. “People come for a bunch of different things but usually it’s for documentation.”

Leon is a staffer at the Worker Justice Center, a nonprofit that advocates for and provides legal services to agricultural and other low-wage workers, many of them recent immigrants, who are frequent targets for exploitation and wage theft. Leon came to the mobile consulate to hand out booklets on workers’ rights and make contacts among the city’s Mexican population. For Clinton UMC Pastor Joy McVane, providing access to consular services and legal advocates like Leon fits in with the church’s mission of community service.

McVane said that while the church does not hold services in Spanish, it operates a community refrigerator where people can grab milk, cheese and other staples from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day with no questions asked. With its proximity to the Broadway Corridor, the heart of the city’s Latino immigrant community, McVane said the church provided a welcoming and familiar place for neighborhood residents.

“I don’t speak Spanish and we don’t have a Spanish worship service, but they feel welcomed here,” said McVane, of her Latino immigrant neighbors. “I consider them part of our church community and our church is bigger than what happens Sundays at 11.”

An ongoing immigration crackdown has added a layer of uncertainty to events like the mobile consulate. In the early days of Trump’s second term, the Department of Homeland Security rescinded its longtime policy of not carrying out immigration enforcement actions in and around schools, hospitals and churches. Cognizant of those concerns, McVane said she had deliberately kept the event low-key while she and her staff kept a watchful eye on the door.

“We understand there’s a risk but on the other hand we want to extend this much needed service to the community,” said McVane. “There’s no balloons or welcome signs out front, the church doesn’t do publicity for it. We’re mindful and concerned, but we won’t be stopped from doing what’s right because of fear.”

The Mexican mobile consulate will be at Clinton Avenue United Methodist Church through Saturday, Oct 10 from 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. The consulate will take walk-ins through Friday while Saturday will be by appointment only.