Churches

“We forget that many people feel they must act even if they don’t want to or are afraid to,” said Charles Haynes, the vice president of the Newseum Institute’s Religious Freedom Center. “They feel that the highest authority in their lives is not the state; it’s not the ICE. It’s their conscience, their God.”

But not all congregations support the movement nor think it’s appropriate to go against the federal government. One Tennessee congregation is opting not to become a sanctuary church for those very reasons. And the issue could become more pronounced in the months ahead.

The Department of Homeland Security issued memos Tuesday that put in place President Trump’s increased immigration enforcement plan, making deportation a real possibility for the majority of the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Those convicted of crimes are the highest priority, but the memos direct agents to arrest and initiate deportation proceedings for anyone they encounter who is in the country illegally. Those granted deportation protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program are not affected.

Leaders with the sanctuary movement believe a 2011 policy that former President Obama set protects their houses of worship from Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. That policy limits ICE actions at socalled “sensitive locations,” including churches, hospitals and schools.

As of Tuesday, the policy was still in place, ICE officials told The Arizona Republic.

Although the Obama administration’s immigration policy drove interest, a national network of sanctuary congregations — including Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian and Jewish congregations — saw a spike after Trump’s election in November, said the Rev. Noel Andersen, the national grassroots organizer for Church World Service.

Before Trump’s victory, the national network hovered at around 400 congregations willing to offer sanctuary, Andersen said. That number jumped to more than 800 in 45 states after the election and is continuing to tick up.

Though the Nashville First Church of the Nazarene in Tennessee has a recent history of welcoming refugees and immigrants into its congregations, it won’t be offering sanctuary, said the Rev. Kevin Ulmet, the church’s senior pastor.

“We would not be comfortable doing so,” Ulmet said.

Among the concerns of church members are violating federal policy and potentially going against local zoning laws that might prohibit someone from living in a church, Ulmet said.

On the other side of Nashville, Edgehill United Methodist Church, a congregation with a 50year history of social justice work, came to a different conclusion.

The church is putting together a response team in anticipation of increased ICE raids, and members are preparing to offer resources, including short-term sanctuary for those who need it, said the Rev. John Feldhacker, the church’s pastor.

“At this point, we’re not saying this is a blatant act of civil disobedience yet. This is just compassion,” Feldhacker said.

Likewise, in Ohio, Cincinnati’s sanctuary movement will be forming a rapid-response team to warn the region’s communities of undocumented immigrants if a deportation raid is imminent.

“It’s about a system,” said the Rev. Troy Jackson, director of a multidenominational social justice organization called the Amos Project. “It’s not just about warning people. It’s about showing up to protect people at places where hate speech is occurring.”

Cincinnati’s movement has 17 congregations committed to providing money, food, toiletries and other supplies for those in sanctuary churches. The movement there cuts across denominational lines, with Buddhists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Jews, Muslims, Presbyterians, Quakers and Unitarians from Cincinnati and its Ohio and Kentucky suburbs all involved.

Back in Denver, Vizguerra, who fled violence in Mexico, believes she should be allowed to remain in this country. She has a criminal record because of a 2009 misdemeanor conviction for using false documents to get work, but no violent offenses.

She is living in a converted storage room at First Unitarian Society.

She is welcome to stay at the Unitarian church as long as necessary, said the Rev. Mike Morran, the church’s senior pastor.

“This is a profoundly pastoral issue,” he said. “These are children who need their mom. I don’t know how you can argue that.”