CA: Churches to begin providing sanctuary to illegal immigrants ("New Sanctuary Movement")

Two churches intend to give sanctuary to illegal immigrants to protect them from deportation and put pressure on lawmakers to create a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

Beginning Wednesday, a Catholic Church in Los Angeles and a Lutheran church in North Hollywood each intend to shelter one person as part of the "New Sanctuary Movement."

A handful of churches in other U.S. cities plan similar efforts in the months ahead to spotlight the plight of illegal immigrants.

"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, where one illegal immigrant will live.

Organizers don't believe immigration agents will make arrests inside the churches.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has not tried to arrest Elvira Arrellano, an illegal immigrant who has taken shelter at a Methodist church in Chicago since August.

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice declined to say if agents would attempt to arrest others who take sanctuary in churches, although she did say agents have "the authority to arrest those who are in violation of our immigration laws anywhere in the United States."

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.

The sanctuary effort is loosely based on a movement in the 1980s, when churches harbored Central American refugees fleeing wars in their home countries. Organizers of the current movement include members of the Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and other faiths.

They believe the effort will give illegal immigrants a platform to share their stories of suffering in a way that pushes lawmakers toward reform.

Participating churches in San Diego, Seattle, Chicago and New York won't initially house illegal immigrants. Instead, leaders will provide legal council, 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 immigrants have been detained and deported in stepped up immigration raids in recent months.

The first to receive refuge in Los Angeles will be a single father from Mexico who has two children who are U.S. citizens, said Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, executive director of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, an interfaith association spearheading the national plans.

The man, whose name was not released, worked 17 years as a cook at Los Angeles International Airport before getting injured on the job more than a year ago, she said. He has been unable to work and is facing deportation.

"If he goes back to Mexico, the family will literally not have enough food to eat," she said.

The other church will shelter an unidentified Guatemalan man who runs a small gardening business and has two U.S. citizen children. He fled Guatemala in the 1990s during its civil war. He has been denied political asylum and is facing deportation.

The churches put out calls for immigrants who were willing and wanted to take part in the sanctuary movement. Immigrants were screened to make sure they paid taxes and didn't have criminal backgrounds, Salvatierra said.

In New York, a handful of churches will be giving aid to a Haitian man and a Chinese couple, who are facing deportation and have U.S. citizen children, said Father Juan Carlos Ruiz.

Though the immigrants won't initially live in churches, three congregations are ready to take them in, Ruiz said.

"Depending on how immigration officials act toward us, we'll be escalating our actions," he said.

Apprehend these aiders and abetters, arrest them, try them and jail them.

A couple of high profile cases should do the trick.

Churchmen think they are above the law, just as they did when molesting alter boys was thought to be undicoverable.

Put them in shackles and make their church or agency pay big bucks. Shut 'em down.

Here is a list of likely Sanctuary Offenders:

Amazing how "churches" care more about filling the pews than they do about the thousands upon thousands of Americans killed by illegals since 9/11. The Interfaith Council has put billions of dollars into Illegal immigrant assitance over the last twenty years. There is compassion and then there is IDIOT COMPASSION!( a liberal affectation). They are the lobbying group that has The President and the RINOs fawning all over them on illegal aliens! They wage demographic warfare on the United States, under the banner of Marxist socialist Liberation Theology!

Who are they? Take a gander:

http://www.wr.org/ourwork/whatwedo/reform.asp

QUOTE:

We, the undersigned faith-based leaders and organizations, join together to call upon President Bush and our elected officials in Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform legislation that establishes a safe and humane immigration system consistent with our values. Our diverse faith traditions teach us to welcome our brothers and sisters with love and compassion.

UNQUOTE

The result of the Roman Catholic foundation movement is here, among many other religious institutions whose liberal values represent a multicultural agenda, and a complete social change for the United States, and the devolution of our culture of freedom through immigration for immigrants who have no intended allegiance to the United States or its constitution:

National Organizations:

Anti-Defamation League

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

American Jewish Committee

American Jewish Congress

American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA)

B’nai B’rith International

Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC)

Church World Service/Immigration and Refugee Program

The Conference of Major Superiors of Men

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)

International Catholic Migration Commission

Irish Apostolate, USA

Islamic Circle of North America

Jesuit Conference

Jesuit Refugee Service/USA

Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Jubilee Campaign USA

Justice for Our Neighbors Immigration Clinic Network

La Ermita - The Hermitage

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington Office

Mexican American Cultural Center

National Council of Jewish Women

National Ministries, American Baptist Churches USA

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Union for Reform Judaism

United Jewish Communities

United Methodist Committee on Relief

United States Province of the Priests of the Sacred Heart

Women In Islam, Inc.

Women’s League for Conservative Judaism

World Relief

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Local Organizations:

Baltimore Jewish Council

Building Bridges: Hispanic Outreach Project Community of St. Anthony Church in Canton, Ohio

Cabrini Immigrant Services, Dobbs Ferry, New York

Cabrini Immigrant Services, New York, New York

California Province of the Society of Jesus Capuchin Province of St. Joseph, Detroit, Michigan

Catholic Charities Diocese of Des Moines

Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego

Catholic Charities Hawaii

Catholic Charities Health and Human Services, Diocese of Cleveland

Catholic Charities Housing Opportunities (CCHO), Youngstown, Ohio

Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico

Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia

Catholic Charities of Tennessee, Inc.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, Texas

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington

Catholic Migration Office of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York

Catholic Social Services in Anchorage, Alaska

Clerics of St. Viator, Chicago Province

Commonwealth Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia

Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of San Antonio

Congregation of Holy Cross, Southern Province

Congregation of Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters, Huntington, Indiana

Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus

En Camino, Migrant and Immigrant Services, Diocese of Toledo, Ohio

Family Unity & Citizenship Program of the Diocese of Las Cruces

HIAS and Council Migration Services of Philadelphia

Hogar Hispano - Catholic Charities, Falls Church, Virginia Houston Dominican Sisters

Human Concerns Commission of the Diocese of San Jose

Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries of Illinois

Jewish Community Action, St. Paul, Minnesota

Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona

Lutheran Children and Family Service of Eastern Pennsylvania

Lutheran Family Services in the Carolinas

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota

Lutheran Social Services of Michigan

Lutheran Social Services of New England

Lutheran Social Services of Northern New England

Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota

Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area

Marianist Province of the United States, St. Louis, Missouri

Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, New York

Migration and Refugee Services Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey

Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Province of the Immaculate Conception, Paterson, New Jersey

Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Stella Maris Province, New York, New York

Missionhurst-CICM, Arlington, Virginia

National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Des Moines, Iowa

New Albany Deanery of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Indiana

Northern Indiana Ecumenical Multicultural Ministry (NIEMM), Morocco, Indiana

Organización for Latino Awareness of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago

Priests of the Sacred Heart (SCJ), Hales Corners, Wisconsin

Provincial Council of the Province of St. John the Baptist of the Order of Friars Minor, Cincinnati, Ohio

River's Edge Community Church, Oella, Maryland

Saints Peter and Paul Church, Savannah, Georgia

Society of Jesus (Jesuits), New York Province

Society of the Divine Word, Chicago Province

St James Faithful Citizenship, Elizabethtown, Kentucky

St James Parish Council, Elizabethtown, Kentucky

St James Parish Social Ministries, Elizabethtown, Kentucky

St. Benedict's Abbey, Benet Lake, Wisconsin

UJA-Federation of New York

Vincentian Center for Church and Society at St. John's University, New York

Western Dominican Province, Oakland, California

Wider Church Ministries - United Church of Christ, Cleveland, Ohio

Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus

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Individual Faith Leaders:

Pamela Beech, Archdiocese of Detroit, Lay Leadership and Formation

Rev. Dr. Clive Calver, Walnut Hill Community Church, Bethel, CT

P. Adem Carroll, 9/11 Relief Director Islamic Circle of North America USA (ICNA Relief)

Patrick Gilger, SJ, Loyola University Chicago

Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio, Bishop of Brooklyn

John E. Dister, SJ, Detroit Province Jesuits, Loyola of the Lakes Retreat House

Bob Dunden, SJ, St Benedict the Moor Parish, Omaha, NE

John C. Fickes, Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus

Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago

Michael Higgins, C.P., Provincial Superior of Holy Cross Province of the Passionists, Chicago, Illinois

Daniel Idzikowski, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of La Crosse, Inc., La Crosse, Wisconsin

Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh, Port Wentworth, Georgia

Dr Khurshid Khan, President of the Islamic Circle of North America

Most Reverend Gerald Kicanas, Bishop of Tucson

Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church-USA

Abbot Jerome Kodell, OSB, Subiaco, Arkansas

Reverand John S.Korcsmar, CSC, Austin, Texas

Sister Larraine Lauter OSU, Owensboro, Kentucky

Reverand Msgr. Ronald T. Marino, Brooklyn, New York

Peter Vander Meulen, Office of Social Justice and Hunger Action, Christian Reformed Church

Carrie Monnette, Detroit Province Jesuits, Assistant for Social and International Ministries

Allan Parker, Pastor, Quitman Church of the Nazarene, Quitman, GA

Sylvia Romero, Hispanic Ministry at Grace United Methodist Church, Olathe, Kansas

Most Reverend Carlos Sevilla, S.J., Bishop of Yakima, Washington

Secretary General, Rashid Siddiqui, Islamic Circle of North America

Michael Simone, SJ, Weston Jesuit School of Theology

Most Reverend Jaime Soto, Auxiliary Bishop of Orange, California

Madonna Della Strada, Jesuit Residence

Professor Elie Wiesel, Boston University

Most Reverend Thomas G. Wenski, Bishop of Orlando

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