Threatened with deportation, man finds refuge in Seattle church

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

In a scenario repeating itself across the country, a Seattle church has offered refuge to an undocumented immigrant at risk of deportation.

Last night, Jose A. Robles, a 44-year-old husband and father of three girls, slept at Gethsemane Lutheran Church downtown. He found sanctuary on the same day he was supposed to board a plane headed for his home country of Mexico, a place he left 18 years ago.

“He is safe here, and he is welcome here,” Gethsemane Pastor Joanne Engquist said to a crowd of supporters who attended a vigil at the church. She called deportation “an immoral action” that separates families.

“Our desire is to be a safe haven during a stormy time.”

The crowd erupted in applause.

There is a long history of churches operating as safe houses. The Bible refers to churches as cities of refuge where those accused of murder could safely await trial. In the 19th century, churches hid runaway slaves. In the 1980s, hundreds of churches supported the so-called sanctuary movement in an attempt to save Central American refugees fleeing civil conflict from deportation.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement generally avoids churches because they are considered “sensitive locations,” as are schools and hospitals.

Gethsemane Lutheran, Engquist explained, voted to become a “sanctuary congregation” last April.
https://crosscut.com/2018/06/threatened-deportation-man-finds-refuge-seattle-church

[janterry]

1. I fear ICE will go in there (and other churches)

with Trumps orders.
The only thing that might stop him is the PR mess that could ensue.


Here's a link to Groundswell
https://action.groundswell-mvmt.org/petitions/we-pledge-to-resist-deportation-and-discrimination-through-sanctuary

and a handy map of sanctuary throughout the country:
https://cis.org/Map-Sanctuary-Cities-Counties-and-States

[Ohiogal]

2. I thought I'd read that the bastards were already starting to grab children from schools.