Executive orders now say immigration officers can arrest migrants at schools and churches. The violation of the church or a school as a sanctuary is an anti-Christian act. If this administration claims Christianity, then why is everything it does opposed to everything Jesus is?
“Sanctuary” is defined as a place of safety and refuge. A lot of us come to the sanctuary to be refueled, refreshed, renewed. Refueled, so we don’t get weak during the week. Refreshed, so we can perform and provide for our families at a high and safe level. Renewed, with another level of optimism. You’ve come to participate in corporate worship with other believers.
Wesley E. Bridges
However, it’s no longer safe. You’re not free to worship. These immigration laws or the preference of this country’s decadent don’t meet biblical criteria. Another part of the Constitution being trimmed off at poor people’s expense. Imagine looking over your shoulder at a place you’ve been trying to get to all week after the rough and tumble of life.
A resolution passed in my hometown by Chicago Public Schools’ Board of Education in November said schools would not assist ICE in enforcing immigration law. I’m on my local school board in Mississippi. Although our numbers might not warrant the attention of ICE, I wonder if we’ll do the same. I wonder if we’d protect children as their parents entrust us to educate them in a safe environment. If there’s one family or 100 families, we should act so we don’t have to react.
Just one week into the new administration, with the rumor mill swirling that ICE agents would start in my hometown of Chicago, they arrested almost 1,200 people in one day.
Only 613 of those total arrests — nearly 52% — were considered “criminal arrests.” The rest appear to be nonviolent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense other than crossing the border illegally.
“We have to do everything possible to keep our children safe,” Chicago-area resident Martin Ramos told the Tribune. “What will they do if we get deported?” He stopped going to work and kept his kids home from school.
“Nothing makes those in power feel more grandiose than instilling fear in people.”
Ramos is not the only one fearful of going to work. Other states have seen attendance drop. California Farm Bureau reports the same migrant workers who were deemed essential workers during the pandemic are now being targeted.
The ACLU reminds us this is a civil crime, not a criminal offense. No matter what Tom Homan, White House Border czar, says. Why are we doing this? We already have habitual offender laws that are antiquated and mass incarceration driven. This is about power. Nothing makes those in power feel more grandiose than instilling fear in people.
Educating ourselves is a sign of organizing. The opposition doesn’t really fear when we meet, they fear when we organize. Let’s help our targeted families know their rights. Trump’s border czar already has said “Know Your Rights” education has made arrests very difficult.
The sanctuary is a house of prayer, not a den of thieves. Jesus turned a table over in the church because the sanctuary was being violated. Targeting people at a place of worship to steal and separate them from family is plenty to make Jesus turn over these proverbial “this is my country” tables.
As a pastor, I pray for more brothers and sisters who are chained around their wrists, waists and ankles. However, we have to put feet to our prayers.
Wesley E. Bridges serves as CEO of Clergy for Prison Reform and is a Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project.