Churches to offer support to sanctuary movement

Saying they were tired of waiting for Congress to repair the nation's fractured immigration system, a group of local religious leaders Wednesday announced an interfaith movement to support illegal immigrants at risk of deportation.

About a dozen congregations have expressed interest in joining what is called the New Sanctuary Movement, but how they will provide support will vary.

St. Mary's Catholic Church in Seattle wants to house a family if the church can iron out issues with the Archdiocese of Seattle. St. Matthew/San Mateo Episcopal Church in Auburn plans to care for children whose parents are detained. Temple Beth Am in Seattle is offering legal help.

All participating congregations will serve as advocates for those who live and work in the state without legal documents.

"Sanctuary is not the solution," said the Very Rev. Robert Taylor, dean of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, site of Wednesday's announcement. "The solution is comprehensive immigration."

The movement also was launched Wednesday in Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago and New York.

In Seattle, some local immigration lawyers will help screen prospective candidates for sanctuary. Those helped will be "compelling cases" whose stories can highlight the problems with immigration policies, said a lawyer who asked that his name not be published.

Churches have a "historic principle" of offering sanctuary to those in need, "even if it's not an enshrined legal principle," he said. But churches have no protection from harboring and concealing criminals, the lawyer added.

The local effort would be "totally above board" because participating houses of worship would not conceal identities of those given sanctuary, said Michael Ramos, director of social justice ministries for the Church Council of Greater Seattle.

The sanctuary movement will not change the priorities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Lorie Dankers, spokeswoman for the federal agency in Seattle.

The agency "has the authority, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to enforce immigration law," she said. "We'll continue to pursue criminal aliens and immigration fugitives."

Among those arrested March 14 at Emerald Downs was an illegal immigrant named Rene, who worked 10 years at the Auburn racetrack and spoke at the news conference.

"I don't know what the wrongdoing was. (I guess) the wrongdoing was work," Rene said through a translator, surrounded by his family, including his 4-year-old son. He lost his job and his driver's license.

In addition to about a dozen Seattle-area congregations, churches in Whatcom, Skagit, Pierce, Thurston and Yakima counties also have expressed interest in the sanctuary movement, Ramos said.

Several members of the clergy drew parallels to the Old Testament, saying that Abraham, Moses and others were strangers in foreign lands. They said the Bible teaches followers to offer hospitality to strangers and to seek justice.

But the New Testament also speaks of obeying those in authority, said Bob Baker, a Mercer Island resident who is leading Initiative 966, which would require state and local governments to report immigration violations and end "subsidies" to illegal immigrants.

Instead of helping those facing deportation, he said, people "should be trying to make sure our laws are enforced."