WTF?? More than 800 houses of worship in the U.S. have volunteered to shelter illegal immigrants and their families who face deportation
Since President Trump took office, according to ICE, about 11,000 undocumented people with no criminal records have been detained – twice as many as last year.
Now, the number of religious institutions across the country offering sanctuary has doubled to more than 800.
Illegal immigrants can be arrested in places of worship, but ICE has a long-time policy of avoiding religious spaces, schools and hospitals.
There is a peaceful rebellion growing against federal immigration law and the interpretation of that law by the Trump administration. More than 800 houses of worship across the country have volunteered to shelter illegal immigrants and their families who face deportation – daring federal agents to step through their stained-glass doors. The churches and synagogues are joining more than 600 cities and counties that have declared themselves sanctuaries—ordering their police not to detain people if it's only because of their immigration status. In no other venue of the law has so much of the nation stood in defiance of Washington.
"We're taking a leap of faith, right, in many respects, because we don't know what's going to happen."
Philadelphia's Arch Street Methodist Church was built by Abraham Lincoln's favorite minister.
Rev. Robin Hynicka: We are a sanctuary church.
And a 155 years later, Reverend Robin Hynicka is on the same chapter and verse.
Rev. Robin Hynicka: My baptismal covenant, there's a vow that's taken either on my behalf when I was baptized as a child or as an adult, that I would take the power and the freedom that God gives me to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they show themselves.
Scott Pelley: Well, in your view what is this, evil, injustice, or oppression?
Rev. Robin Hynicka: It's injustice and oppression, all of which is evil. Yeah, when a human being's human rights are denied, when they can't stay with their family, when they can't work, when they can't participate in the community in which they have deep roots, all of those apply.
He's talking about Javier Flores Garcia who has lived in the church basement for six months. He came from Mexico, illegally in 1997. He's a landscaper with a decade-old DUI on his record. His other offense is crossing the border repeatedly. A judge ordered him deported but he moved here rather than leave his three children who were born citizens.
Javier Flores Garcia: I think you have to keep fighting and I'm doing this for my kids. And I would do it again if it became necessary.
Rev. Robin Hynicka: We're taking a leap of faith, right, in many respects, because we don't know what's going to happen.
cbsnews.com
