Priest talks about what led to letter on sanctuary
Reverend says hearing of Latino children being bullied led to letter calling for sanctuary city
The Rev. Frank Alagna tells what led to a letter seeking to make Kingston a sanctuary city.
For the Rev. Frank Alagna, it was seeing the fear in the eyes of some local children that prompted him to take action on the issue of sanctuary cities.
“I saw fear in the eyes of some children in our congregation that I hadn’t seen before,” Alagna said Friday. He said the Latino children began telling stories about how they were harassed and bullied at school just because of the color of their skin. It had not been part of their experience before, Alagna said.
One child told his parents he was never going to school again and, when asked why, he said it was because a group of his peers had gotten together and told him he did not belong, Alagna said. He said the other students told that child he would soon be sent back to where he came from.
“The kid was born in Kingston Hospital,” Alagna said.
Alagna, who has been a priest at Holy Cross/Santa Cruz Episcopal Church in Kingston for nearly seven years, said when he saw that distress and fear in the eyes, hearts and minds of people he knew, he felt he had to do something. He said he wanted to write a letter to city Mayor Steve Noble asking him to declare Kingston a sanctuary city, one in which the police would not ask people for their documentation. Alagna said he asked his peers in the faith community to join him in the letter and, within two days,
many had signed on.
That letter went to Noble late last year and, in turn, was brought to the city’s Common Council for consideration. The council ultimately adopted a memorializing resolution declaring Kingston “welcoming and inclusive” toward undocumented immigrants, who would not be asked for paperwork during first encounters with police.
From that letter, the efforts of the clergy and community grew, Alagna said. He said people from all faiths in Ulster County joined to create the Ulster Immigrant Defense Network. The network came together to spell out what services each member wanted to make available should physical sanctuary be required, Alagna said.
“It’s not a matter of protecting criminals,” Alagna said. “It’s a matter of protecting and caring for and supporting and ensuring due process for people who are our neighbors, our friends, members of our community. In some cases, our relatives.” He added that the broad-brush vilifying of all undocumented people is a revolting and hateful thing that needs to be stopped.
The group also created the Ulster Immigrant Defense Fund, which will support people in need, according to Alagna.
“Basically, what we’re putting together is something that we all hope we will never have to activate,” Alagna said. The groups involved just want to be prepared, which is not an unreasonable thing to want since the rhetoric against undocumented individuals has not died down, he added.
The Ulster Immigrant Defense Network, according to its mission statement, is intended to keep people, both immigrants and those who would care for them, safe. The network strives to keep them safe by keeping them informed about their rights and the resources available to them, as well as keep them safe in their own homes. The group also strives to keep the children of immigrants safe in schools by working with administrators to address bullying and other issues. Additionally, the network has identified physical sanctuaries that are ready, willing and able to be safe places.
Alagna, who has been a priest for 46 years, said half of his congregation is made up of Latinos from approximately 10 different countries in central and South America. He said when he first joined the church, there seemed to be two different congregations sharing one house of worship. Alagna said he asked the church leaders and parish to try a different model where they would be one congregation that worshipped in two languages.
“Six years later, I can say that there is a deeper rapport and affection and appreciation of what we share and our differences,” Alagna said. “And the differences don’t seem to be an obstacle to continuing to work toward achieving a deeper experience of unity.”
Alagna said the idea of sanctuary was born in the faith community. He added that there are very clear mandates in sacred texts that deal with welcoming the stranger and caring for the alien among us.
“There are so many Biblical mandates relative to that,” Alagna said, adding that the Christian scriptures were born out of the experience of people who first identified as refugees. He also said the issue of sanctuary and sanctuary cities has really forced people of faith to examine who they are and reflect upon their responsibilities to their nation and the responsibilities they have to their faiths. Alagna said it can make them question what it means to be given the expectation that they are to obey the law, when the law may be unjust.