Washington – Since the Trump administration explains that immigration officers are now free to capture at worship, say that unrealied faith leaders in South California and beyond are willing to support and even protect immigrants.
“We have an executive order of God, not from politicians,” said Guillermo Torres, who heads immigration campaigns in clergymen and lay people United for Economic Justice, a non -profit interest in Los Angeles. “Do you think we will reveal the greatest bid to love your neighbors as yourself?”
The enforcement guideline announced last week has lifted a memo from 2011 in which immigration agents were prevented from being arrested in sensitive places such as churches and schools.
A group of Quaker communities on Monday sued the Ministry of Homeland Security Before the Federal Supreme Court about the change in politics and claims to carry out the risk of immigration, keeps meetings from attending services and harms religious freedom.
Bishop John Taylor from the episcopal diocese of Los Angeles said that he was looking forward to working with colleagues to master further legal challenges. Perfomance.”
Dozens of immigrants searched for President Trump in worship houses during the first term. As part of the bidges administration, immigrants no longer had priorities for deportation without serious criminal convictions.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in American schools and churches to avoid arrest,” said the Ministry of Homeland Security on January 21.
The leaders of South California prepared for this moment and got to know each other throughout December to discuss how to react to the new administration, said Torres. Inquiries from executives from various faiths have been received in the region since last week and have asked how they can support immigrants.
Church leaders said they organized “Know Your Rights” sessions for members of their community and mark certain buildings as private property to convey immigration agents in order to receive access without arrest. Pro -Bono lawyers are canceled to offer legal support to the municipalities in the event of immigration attacks, said Torres.
Some join Rapid Response networks that would go to the place of immigration liability.
“We want to search the noise and make sure that our people have the right information that they are smart, that they are not naive” almost exclusively from immigrants. Molina, who asked that his church does not be mentioned out of fear of threatening violence, said that some members of the community had told him that they were afraid and had to prepare for the worst while others have said that they believe that All speeches are threats of mass deportation.
Pastor Rene Molina Jr. is on January 28, 2025 in the sanctuary of his church in Los Angeles. “My hope is that as a community as a community leader and take care of the most vulnerable among us,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said, he said “, he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he,” he, ” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, he said, he said “, he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said,” he said, “he said, he said, referring to migrants who are exposed to deportation.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Among the clergymen, the projects to protect immigrants, is Rev. Carlos Ramirez, who heads a Pentecost church of the majority migrants in East Los Angeles. Ramirez asked that the church was not called for fear of threats of violence.
Ramirez said his church had space for up to 10 people. For Ramirez, an immigrant who came from Mexico more than three decades ago to work in the areas of Fresno, the problem is personal.
“I will do anything to protect the people I serve,” he said. “I am ready to – I am not joking – even in the middle between (an immigration agent) and my community.”
For the leaders of the sanctuary movement, the idea is that serious criminals in churches would look for refuge.
“Where did a murderer or rapist claim a refuge in a community at some point in history?” said Rev. Noel Anderson, national field director of the Church World Service. “That never happened.”
The concept of sanctuary comes from ancient Egypt, where refugees could enter holy rooms to avoid arrest. It would be deeply rooted in the Christian tradition in Europe. Colonists later brought this concept to America, where it “tried to protect people who seem to be treated unfairly,” said Karl Shoemaker, author of “Sanctuary and Crime in the Middle Ages, 400-1500”. Churches played a role in the anti-Sklaveri-U-Bahn, which led refugees to the north.
Sanctuary was connected to immigration in the 1980s when the central Americans fled regional civil wars for the United States.
The goal of the sanctuary is that immigration officers grant the person to the person. After that, a lawyer can determine whether he qualifies for a legal status like asylum.
Anderson fears that the Trump administration will be far less willing to use discretion against persecution of cases in which someone is written off, but has no direct legal sentence.
During Trump's first term, the World Church Service pursued more than 800 churches who were willing to offer a sanctuary.
From 2017 to 2020 there were at least 70 public cases in which immigrants had a sanctuary nationwide. Nobody was in California. Anderson said other cases did not go to the stock exchange because the person had not felt comfortable or it made no sense as a legal strategy. This time fewer cases are public.
“Maybe you will see a model of the U -Bahn that is practiced here,” said Torres.
A further repetition of the sanctuary movement came when the cult houses became empty during the height of the Covid 19 pandemic. Many began to offer immigrants who were released from detention centers to offer transitional accommodations and recently arrive asylum seekers.
All Saints' Day in Pasadena are one of these South California churches with a story in which the rights of immigrants defend. Hanging outside the church is a large banner that says that “all saints welcome all refugees.”
The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, who heads the new seasonal church in Sacramento, said he believes that new edition policy will only apply to serious criminals and other national security threats. He said the directive sent the message to so-called sanctuary cities and states such as California, whereby laws should restrict cooperation between local law enforcement and immigration authorities in order to avoid the “collateral” of people without crime history.
“You won't come to John Garcia, who works at Wendy and has been here for 25 years” advised him about immigration. “It could be a strategy for the administration to convey fear.”
But Trump's “Grenzzar”, Tom Homan, told Fox News On Tuesday, the jurisdiction of the Sanctuary complicates the task of arresting immigrants and that more arrests will follow “if they want to play this game”.
So far, at least one arrest has taken place on the church site. Federal agents in Tucker, Ga., Wilson Rogelio Velasquez Cruz arrested during a service in Iglesia Fuente de Vida. Velasquez Cruz, who wore an ankle monitor as an asylum seeker, went outside when the monitor started to avoid the service. Agents waited. His wife told WSB TV In Atlanta he had never had legal difficulties and that the family had fled violence in Hondura's violence two years ago.
Rev. Lorenzo Sewell Immigration officers should be permitted everywhere of the non -denominational church of 180 in Detroit to grasp people who are illegal in the country. Sewell, who initiated prayer during Trump's inauguration, said that if agents tried to remove someone from his church, he would try to make the process as peaceful as possible. I said he would bring the risk that his other meetings will feel unsafe.
Being illegal in the country, he said, was the “equivalent of another who violates the law. We had people in our church who committed murder and came to church and we brought them to prison. ”
Life in the United States without a lawful immigration status is a civilian, not a criminal violation.
Prominent faith leaders outside of Trump's circle have sentenced his approach to immigration. Pope Francis called Trump's plans for mass deportations.
During an opening prayer god last week, the rights Rev. Mariann Budde, the Bishop of the Diocese of Washington, was ancient Trump, when she said: “The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals” and asked that he “” People in People in People in The person in our country who is now afraid. ”
However, these messages have contributed little to coordinate the growing discomfort among immigrants who are exposed to the possibility of deportation.
Last week, employees of the National Union, based in California, opened the agricultural workers including those in the church.
The cards came to the conclusion: “There are nowhere to hide!”