Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040

    Movement to shelter immigrants spreads to 24 churches

    Movement to shelter immigrants spreads to 24 churches

    Mariana Dale, The Republic | azcentral.com12:13 p.m. MST September 24, 2014


    (Photo: Nick Oza/The Republic)

    STORY HIGHLIGHTS


    • Rosa Imelda Robles Loreto has been living in a Tucson church for 49 days to avoid deportation.
    • Two dozen churches have now offered to shelter immigrants facing deportation.
    • The sanctuary movement started in the 1980s when churches helped immigrants from Central America.


    A growing number of faith communities around the country are inviting undocumented immigrants facing deportation into their churches in response to the federal government's failure to reform immigration policy.

    "Our elected leaders have failed to act," said Alison Harrington, pastor at Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, which has long history of offering sanctuary to migrants.


    "In light of this crisis, we are calling for a national response from communities of faith to declare sanctuaries for those facing final orders of deportation."


    There are now 24 churches prepared to offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants, said Church World Service Grassroots Coordinator Noel Anderson. Another 52 churches say they support the sanctuary movement, church leaders said Wednesday.


    The congregations' actions are a renewal of the sanctuary movement of the 1980s where churches helped immigrants from Central America enter the U.S. and sheltered them when they were denied refugee status.


    RELATED: Read more news on immigration

    BORDER CRISIS: A pipeline of children

    The first church to declare itself a sanctuary in the 1980s was Southside Presbyterian in Tucson. The same church launched the new version of the sanctuary movement in May when members opened the doors to undocumented immigrant Daniel Neyoy Ruiz.

    He lived there for a month before Immigration and Customs Enforcement granted him a stay from deportation.


    Since then, immigrants have found sanctuary at four other churches in Portland, Tempe, Phoenix and Chicago.


    U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz. said he supports the actions of the churches in light of congressional inaction on immigration reform.


    "It speaks to faith and it speaks to to the humanity of this issue, which is forgotten in the political discourse that happens around this issue of immigration where people become numbers," Grijalva said.


    Harrington said immigrants like Neyoy Ruiz and others in sanctuary are not priorities for deportation because of their contributions to the community as workers and parents.


    "Sanctuary is a last resort for faith communities," Harrington said.

    "For years we've been lead by our courageous undocumented brothers and sisters who have more to lose in this fight than we could every comprehend."


    The legal basis for the new sanctuary movement is in a 2011 Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo that advises immigration officers to avoid taking action in "sensitive locations" such as hospitals, churches and schools. Under this policy, movement leaders believe immigrants are shielded from deportation while in the churches, and so far ICE has not tried to arrest any undocumennted immigrants receiving sanctuary in a church.


    In addition to the legal protection of the memo, church leaders said their faith drives their actions.


    "For a large part, we are descended from people who were tormented and killed by unjust laws," said Rabbi Linda Holtzman of Philadelphia. "It is very clear in my community that when we see an unjust law it needs to be disobeyed."


    Rosa Imelda Robles Loreto, a 41-year-old Tucson mother, is the second undocumented immigrant to live in sanctuary at Southside Presbyterian this summer.


    She was issued a final order of removal in August, the last step in a process started when she was stopped for a minor traffic infraction in 2010. Robles Loreto is from Mexico and has lived in Arizona for more than a decade.


    ICE denied Robles Loreto's request for a stay of removal, but a spokesperson for the agency said they do not plan to take action on her case.


    Her lawyer, Margo Cowan, has said Robles Loreto will not leave the church until her deportation order has been stayed. Wednesday is Robles Loreto's 49th day in sanctuary.


    Robles Loreto said her struggle is not unlike those of other families with uncertain futures in the United States.


    "My goal is to be able to stay together with my sons and my husband who need me," Robles Loreto said.

    http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...ches/16161417/

    Last edited by JohnDoe2; 09-24-2014 at 09:31 PM.
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  2. #2
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    Growing religious movement shields undocumented immigrants

    09/24/14 04:59 PM—UPDATED 09/24/14 05:17 PM

    By Amanda Sakuma

    President Obama had said repeatedly that Congress has left him no choice but to act on his own to repair U.S. immigration policies by keeping more families united. Because he has yet to live up to his pledge, church leaders say Obama is now leaving them with a familiar dilemma – if the president wasn’t going to shield immigrants from threats of deportation, then it was up to them.


    In light of President Obama’s delay on immigration action, religious leaders from across the country are reinforcing calls to revive the Sanctuary Movement, a network of faith-based institutions willing to open their doors to undocumented immigrants for as long as it takes for federal officials to close their deportation cases.


    Since the start of the summer, church leaders said more than two dozen congregations have come forward to offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants in Phoenix, Tucson, Chicago and Portland, with another 60 communities of faith pledging their support.


    “The growth and momentum of sanctuary across the country is a result of congregations and immigrant communities working together to confront these broken human-made laws. We have a higher calling,” Rev. Noel Andersen, a coordinator with the Church World Service, said in a press call with reporters Wednesday.


    Taking advantage of federal policies that bar immigration agents from entering places of worship to carry out final deportation orders on undocumented immigrants, church leaders from across the country have stepped up to protect their communities and allow sometimes whole families to seek refuge behind their doors.


    “Opening the doors of a church or a synagogue or a mosque and declaring sanctuary is a very serious matter,” Andersen said. “Faith leaders and their congregants do not enter into this decision lightly.”


    The Obama administration has said that agencies would focus arrest and deportation resources on immigrants who have criminal records and not people who do not pose a threat. But it hasn’t always worked out that way. Communities fed up with seeing families being torn apart have begun to defy federal laws and protect people who have deep roots in the U.S.

    “My struggle goes further than from my immediate family, and it is a call and a national petition so that others can also have hope and establish their lives here, where we have already lived for so long,” said Rosa Robles Loreta, who has lived in Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Ariz., for 48 days.

    The original Sanctuary Movement was born out of Southside Presbyterian in the early 1980s when thousands of Central Americans fled violence and brutal civil wars that were flaring up in Guatemala and El Salvador.


    Church leaders began what they called an underground railroad network connecting the scores of families that were streaming across the U.S. border to safe houses that offered shelter and legal aid to those formally seeking legal asylum. Within a few years, organizers said that as many as 500 churches and synagogues joined the movement, setting roots for the religious network helping indigent populations today.


    Southside Presbyterian rekindled the movement this summer by opening its doors to a Tucson man who faced a final threat of deportation. Under pressure from elected officials and the community, federal immigration enforcement officials ultimately allowed him to remain in the country for another year.


    “While Arizona has been known as the birth place of anti-immigrant legislation and sentiments, the actions of these congregations are changing that narrative and now Arizona is becoming known as the birth place of a faith-based moment of solidarity and hospitality that we call Sanctuary,” Rev. Alison Harrington of Southside Presbyterian said.


    Faith leaders said they were disappointed to see President Obama delay action on deportation relief, which advocates estimate could help millions of undocumented adults who have U.S.-born children or are the parents of DREAMers, young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. However because of the delay, as many as 70,000 more undocumented immigrants will face fears of deportation before Obama addresses the issue, advocates warn.


    “The Sanctuary Movement across this country speaks to the moral imperative and the humanity of the issue, which is forgotten in the political discourse that happens around the issue of immigration — where people become number, where the consequences of families being divided is minimized, where children fleeing their violence are treated as invaders,” Rep. Raúl Grijalva said Wednesday.

    http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/growing-r...ted-immigrants

    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  3. #3
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    11 Philadelphia Congregations Promise Sanctuary For Immigrants Facing Deportation

    September 24, 2014 2:29 PM


    (A group of Philadelphia congregations announce they will provide sanctuary for unauthorized immigrants facing deportation. Photo by Mike Dougherty)

    Mike DoughertyMike is a general assignment reporter and editor for KYW Newsradio...
    By Mike Dougherty

    PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Members of eleven Philadelphia religious congregations today announced a partnership to provide sanctuary and support for immigrants facing deportation.


    “The goal is to make President Obama act,” said Peter Pedemonti, executive director of the New Sanctuary Movement.


    He and activists at the Philadelphia Praise Center, in South Philadelphia, want to see all deportations stopped immediately, with no exceptions.


    “We need to stand in solidarity with the immigrant community,” Pedemonti said today, “really take a firm stand and say, ‘This is wrong and we’re not going to obey these laws that are unjust.’ “


    The Philadelphia Praise Center and Tikkun Olam Chavurah in Germantown say they will host families who face deportation, and nine other houses of worship will provide support.


    Rabbi Linda Holtzman of Tikkun Olam Chavurah (at lectern in photo) says it’s our duty to stand up for those who can’t stand for themselves.


    “Almost the entire Jewish world in the United States — myself included — is either the child, grandchild, or great-grandchild of immigrants,” she noted.


    She says the thousands of deportations every week break up families and create undue emotional stress.

    http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/201...g-deportation/

    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  4. #4
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    PARADISE (San Diego)
    Posts
    99,040
    US immigrant activist who hid in church and gained community support has troubled past

    GOSIA WOZNIACKA / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
    SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 06:57 AM



    Francisco Aguirre - a community activist who first came to the U.S. from El Salvador two decades ago - poses for a photo on Sept. 24, 2014, in the church where he has taken refuge nearly a week ago to avoid deportation. Aguirre, who has two U.S. citizen children, is facing removal to his native country due to an old drug trafficking conviction and a previous deportation. (AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka)


    PORTLAND, Ore. - As an immigrant activist's stay at a church to avoid deportation nears a week, he's gaining supporters, including the mayor of Portland, and the church plans a rally for him.
    In recent years, as immigration reform has stalled in Washington, churches around the U.S. have offered sanctuary to immigrants who lack legal status because federal officials generally don't make arrests at sensitive locations such as churches.

    Francisco Aguirre, 35, who came to the U.S. from El Salvador nearly two decades ago, is facing removal to his native country because of an old drug conviction and a previous deportation.


    Aguirre — who has two children who are U.S. citizens and is now the co-ordinator of a Portland non-profit that runs a day labourcentre — disputes the criminal prosecution on drug-dealing charges 15 years ago and says he was innocent.


    He has vowed to remain at Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland until he's able to resolve his immigration case.


    "I'm a part of this community, and this is where I belong," Aguirre said.


    Portland-area churches and local leaders support Aguirre, pointing to his contributions during the past decade as a labour and immigrant rights' organizer and a family man.


    "Francisco Aguirre has been a community leader in Portland and an important voice on issues of equity and immigrant rights ... I believe Francisco should remain in the United States, and in Portland, until his case can reach a humane conclusion," Mayor Charlie Hales said in a statement.


    Court records show that in the final month of 1998, Aguirre, then 19, was involved in small-time drug dealing in Portland. Police surveillance reports and a search-warrant affidavit describe Aguirre selling cocaine and heroin to undercover police officers on multiple occasions. The records also show police observing Aguirre selling or offering to sell drugs.


    After Aguirre and two other men were arrested, Aguirre was charged with 20 counts of delivery and possession of a controlled substance.

    In July 1999, most of the counts were dropped, and he pleaded guilty to two counts of delivery of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years of probation. Aguirre later changed his plea to no contest.


    Aguirre said the evidence against him was fabricated and is untrue.

    He offered a place to stay to two homeless men who brought the drugs with them to his apartment, he said.


    He received bad advice from a lawyer, and he couldn't defend himself because he didn't know his rights and didn't speak English, Aguirre said.


    His immigration lawyer, Stephen Manning, said Aguirre is in the process of obtaining a U-visa, a special document for violent-crime victims who help authorities investigate or prosecute cases. Manning declined to talk about the circumstances surrounding the U-visa petition.


    Aguirre says he first entered the U.S. illegally in 1995. He worked as a day labourer and helped found the non-profit group that operates the day labourcentre.


    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Aguirre to El Salvador in 2000 after his drug conviction. He then unlawfully re-entered the country, spokesman Andrew Munoz said in a statement.


    Aguirre came to the attention of immigration authorities in August after his arrest for driving under the influence.


    The churches and organizations that have rallied around Aguirre say they'll continue to stand behind him.


    The church is one of more than 30 congregations in Oregon that are part of the sanctuary movement and have pledged to give refuge to immigrants living in the country illegally.


    Experts estimate about 300 congregations around America are ready to take in such immigrants. This year, at least three immigrants have taken sanctuary in churches in Arizona and one in a church in Chicago.


    - See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/us-immi....jyB1Mkhn.dpuf
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


    Sign in and post comments here.

    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  5. #5
    Senior Member vistalad's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    NorCal
    Posts
    3,036
    Follow the money. That's the first rule of political analysis. New congregants mean new money. And the religious hierarchies know that 'Bama & Co. will not move against them, so they can be as hypocritically righteous as they please.

    Maybe later they'll even offer to say a few prayers for the disappearing American middle class.
    ***********************

    Americans first in this magnificent country

    American jobs for American workers

    Fair trade, not free trade

Similar Threads

  1. SoCal Churches Provide Temporary Shelter, "Spiritual Food" for Immigrants
    By JohnDoe2 in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 07-10-2014, 08:44 PM
  2. New York City orders churches not to shelter homeless
    By jp_48504 in forum Other Topics News and Issues
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 11-24-2008, 06:30 PM
  3. Az-Churches in new sanctuary movement
    By FedUpinFarmersBranch in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 07-13-2008, 01:41 PM
  4. KC-area churches pledge to shelter illegal immigrants
    By Nouveauxpoor in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 09-27-2007, 08:53 AM
  5. U.S. Anti-Immigration Movement Spreads
    By Sixx in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 07-18-2005, 05:11 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •