Churches Start Offering Sanctuary to Illegals
Oakland Tribune
, 2007-05-10
By Peter Prengaman, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- Churches gave sanctuary Wednesday to two men from Mexico and Guatemala to protect them from deportation and launch a nation-
wide effort to pressure lawmakers to create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
More than 30 priests, pastors, imams and rabbis blessed the men during a raucous ceremony attended by 300 people at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in downtown Los Angeles.
We are here to raise our voices for those who cant raise their own, said Pastor Cesar Arroyo of San Pablos Lutheran Church in North Hollywood, which will house the man from Guatemala.
Each of the immigrants had two children in tow as they sat in front of the altar.
The Guatemalan, a gardener who only gave his first name as Juan, said he worried about what might happen to his young daughters if he were deported. Both girls are U.S. citizens because they were born in this country.
I want to ask the politicians to see the suffering of the immigrant families, he said.
The 44-year-old Mexican, who only gave his first name as Jose, will live at the downtown church. He sat next to his two teenage sons wearing the latest American fashion and speaking more English than Spanish. They are also U.S. citizens.
Jose said he had been in the country 17 years, working as a cook at Los Angeles International Airport until he was injured and his immigration status was revealed.
After the ceremony, he went to his room in the church, which has a single bed, sink and toaster oven.
Im going to stay here until this is resolved, he said, referring to his deportation order.
Organizers dont believe immigration agents will make arrests inside the churches.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has not tried to arrest Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant who has taken shelter at a Methodist church in Chicago since August.
ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice declined to say if agents would attempt to arrest others who take sanctuary in churches, but said agents have the authority to arrest those who are in violation of our immigration laws anywhere in the United States.
Organizers said churches in more than 50 cities nationwide are planning to join the sanctuary effort.
Participating faith groups in San Diego, Seattle, Chicago and New York wont initially house illegal immigrants. Instead, leaders will provide legal council, accompany people to court hearings and prepare plans to house them in churches if authorities try to deport them.
Anti-illegal immigration groups called it misguided.
The faith groups dont seem to realize that they are being charitable with someone elses resources, and thats not charity, said Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors limits on immigration.
We are talking about illegal immigrants taking someone elses job, filling up the classroom of someone elses child, he said.
In New York, religious leaders gathered at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Paul the Apostle and said their promise of sanctuary included financial assistance, legal help and physical protection, if necessary.
For us, sanctuary is an act of radical hospitality, the welcoming of the stranger who is like ourselves, the stranger in our midst, our neighbors, our friends, said Rabbi Michael Feinberg of the Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition.
Two families facing deportation stood with the religious leaders. Jani, a U.S. citizen who did not give her last name, said her Haitian-born husband Jean is facing deportation because of a 1989 drug conviction in the U.S. that put him in prison for 11 years.
She said the family would take refuge in a church, if necessary, rather than be separated.
The New Sanctuary Movement is loosely based on the sanctuary movement in the 1980s, when churches harbored Central American refugees fleeing wars in their home countries. Several activists in a handful of states were arrested, often while transporting illegal immigrants from one place to another.
The plans come as immigration reform legislation has been stalled since last summer, and tens of thousands of an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants have been detained and deported in stepped up raids in recent months.
The churches sought immigrants who wanted to take part and were screened to make sure they paid taxes and didnt have criminal backgrounds, said Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, an interfaith association spearheading the national plans.
They chose the Haitian man because his crime was 20 years ago and since then he has totally reformed his life, she said.
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Associated Press writer Karen Matthews in New York contributed to this report.
