Published: 05.10.2007

Tucson is out of sanctuary loop
Churches in big U.S. cities may shelter illegal entrants facing deportation orders By Peter Prengaman
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES — Churches in five big U.S. cities plan to protect illegal entrants from deportation, offering their buildings as sanctuary if need be, as they pressure lawmakers to create a path to citizenship for the nation's estimated 12 million illegal entrants.
Most churches in Tucson, where the sanctuary movement began in the early 1980s, won't be participating in the new effort, a local leader said.
On Wednesday, a Catholic church in Los Angeles and a Lutheran church in North Hollywood each sheltered one person, and churches in other cities plan to do so in coming months as part of the "New Sanctuary Movement."
"We want to put a human face to very complex immigration laws and awaken the consciousness of the human spirit," said Father Richard Estrada of Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Los Angeles.
Organizers said churches in more than 50 cities nationwide were planning to join the sanctuary effort. They don't believe immigration agents will make arrests inside the churches.
In Tucson, the Rev. Robin Hoover, founder of Humane Borders, which operates more than 80 water stations to help prevent illegal entrants crossing the Arizona desert from dying, said that after exploring the issue, many churches in the Tucson area are not taking part.
"We all agree that families are being torn apart," Hoover said. "Churches are perceived as having the ability to provide sanctuary for persons seeking care and protection, but in this case, they are looking for churches that are willing to shelter persons already under deportation orders. If we do that, I guarantee there will be repercussions.
"We're primarily involved in humanitarian work and advocacy, and that would blur things," Hoover said.
The new movement would test sanctuary as a legal device, unlike a case in the mid-1980s that put a Tucson clergyman on trial for smuggling illegal entrants, Hoover said.
In 1986, the Rev. John Fife was convicted along with five others — including a Catholic priest and a nun — for their involvement with the Sanctuary Movement, which he co-founded.
That movement illegally brought Central Americans facing persecution and death squads in their countries into the United States.
Fife was sentenced to five years' probation for people-smuggling. He could not be reached late Wednesday for comment.
In metropolitan Phoenix, the Rev. Trina Zella, director of Interfaith Workers Justice of Arizona, said a number of faith communities are studying the issue. But currently, she said, "We don't have anything ready to go."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not tried to arrest Elvira Arellano, an illegal entrant who has taken shelter at a Methodist church in Chicago since August. Her son is a U.S. citizen and he has lobbied in the Mexican Congress on behalf of families that would be split if parents are deported.
ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice declined to say whether agents would attempt to arrest others who take sanctuary in churches, although she noted agents had the authority to arrest anyone violating immigration law.
Anti-illegal-immigration groups called the sanctuary effort misguided.
The faith groups "don't seem to realize that they are being charitable with someone else's resources, and that's 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 else's job, filling up the classroom of someone else's child," he said.
Organizers of the current movement include members of the Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and other faiths.
Participating churches in San Diego, Seattle, Chicago and New York won't initially house illegal entrants. Instead, leaders will provide legal counsel, accompany them to court hearings and prepare plans to house them in churches if authorities try to deport them.
The plans come as immigration-reform legislation has been stalled since last summer, and tens of thousands of illegal entrants have been detained and deported in stepped-up immigration raids in recent months.
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