City Churches Plan to Offer Sanctuary to Illegal Immigrants
Nathan Burchfiel
Staff Writer
(CNSNews.com) - Churches in major cities across the country are preparing to grant "sanctuary" to illegal immigrants facing deportation in an effort to unite evangelicals behind comprehensive immigration reform, according to a pastor organizing the effort.

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), said Monday that Christians will fight to prevent families from being divided when illegal immigrant parents are deported, leaving behind children who are legal residents.

"There are congregations all across this country that see this as a moral issue," Salvatierra said during a discussion on immigration at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C.

She said the religious community has "a tradition of being the voice for those who have no voice."

Salvatierra, an ordained Lutheran minister, said the program will begin in Los Angeles, where CLUE is based, and spread to other major cities. Each participating congregation will care for one family with citizen children whose parents face deportation. She said each participating church would adopt a "decent, law-abiding family."

Salvatierra did not reveal further details of the project, but suggested that it could violate prohibitions on giving aid to illegal immigrants. "There are traditions," she said, "of moments when it is God's call to break the law."

Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners Call to Renewal, said there are some laws "that are just bad laws, immoral laws," and he called upon Christians to lobby for "compassionate" comprehensive immigration reform that treats illegal immigrants with grace.

"The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you," Wallis said, quoting the biblical passage of Leviticus 19:34. Several passages in the book of Leviticus outline rules applying to Israelites and the "aliens" living among them. The passages require that the aliens abide by the same standards as the Israelites.

"The way the system is operating is driving people to do bad things," Wallis said, telling Cybercast News Service that fixing the "broken" immigration system, including increasing border security, is a bigger concern than punishing undocumented residents for breaking the law.

Wallis said immigration reform is one of the "great moral issues" facing the nation and criticized conservative Christian leaders like Focus on the Family President James Dobson for focusing on traditional values issues like abortion and homosexuality and not addressing other issues such as immigration and poverty.

In August 2006, as immigration bills were hotly debated in the U.S. Congress and in massive protests around the country, a Chicago area church became a focus of attention when it gave "sanctuary" to an illegal immigrant.

Elvira Arellano, an illegal immigrant whose son is a U.S. citizen, sought refuge at Adalberto Memorial United Methodist Church in Chicago in a bid to avoid deportation for working with a fake Social Security number. Officials have yet to act on their threat to arrest her inside the church.

Tom McClusky, vice president of government affairs for the conservative Family Research Council (FRC), told Cybercast News Service that his organization doesn't have a firm policy on how to deal with the illegal immigrants residing in the United States.

"We certainly think something needs to be done about enforcing the borders before you can even address the 11 million or so who are here," he said, adding that immigration is "definitely not one of our core issues."

Responding to Wallis' criticism that faith-based organizations like FRC don't address immigration, McClusky said Wallis "might confuse what the role of the federal government is and what the role of the individual is."

He said that FRC doesn't believe the government should dictate how Christians respond to illegal immigrants and that the organization believes churches should be allowed to offer charity to illegal immigrants without facing punishment. "It's not their job to look for green cards," McClusky said of charities.

Carrie Gordon Earle, a spokesperson for Focus on the Family, told Cybercast News Service that the organization doesn't focus on immigration issues because its board of directors, which sets the group's agenda, has "not directed us to expand into the area of immigration."

"It's an issue that demands both justice and compassion," she said, adding that 'we care about all families, whether they have entered the country legally or illegally."

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