US churches to shelter immigrants facing deportation
The church-based Sanctuary Movement in the US has pledged to shelter immigrants facing deportation amid the Obama administration’s plan to conduct a series of raids to deport Central American families.
On Friday, leaders of the Sanctuary Movement said they would offer their places of worship as refuge for hundreds of immigrants who will be affected as early as January.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the US Department of Homeland Security is finalizing plans to deport families who have immigrated illegally from Central America since 2014.
The nationwide campaign to deport the immigrants will be conducted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security.
It would be the first large-scale effort to deport families who have fled violence in Central America, the newspaper said.
Leaders of the Sanctuary Movement, which has provided shelter for at least 10 immigrants over the last 18 months, joined other human rights groups which have criticized the plan.
The leaders alluded to the biblical Nativity story of Mary and Joseph seeking refuge before the birth of Jesus.
"As pastors we know that each and every family is a holy family," said the Rev. Alison Harrington, pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona. "We open our doors to today's Josephs and Marys. ... The gift we have to offer on Christmas Day is the gift of sanctuary."
Over 100,000 families have entered the US from its border with Mexico since 2014.
The pressure of deporting refugees has mounted due to a recent court decision that ordered the DHS to begin releasing families being held in detention centers.
Detention centers, two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania, house more than 1,700 refugees, DHS officials said Wednesday.
Although department officials have long vowed that the immigrants will be treated humanely, their advocates have said conditions are crowded and inhumane in the centers, which often house women with children.
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