Churches jump into action amid threat
CHICAGO >> As a nationwide immigration crackdown loomed, religious leaders across the country used their pulpits Sunday to quell concerns in immigrant communities and spring into action to help those potentially threatened.
A Chicago priest talked during his homily about the compassion of a border activist accused of harboring illegal immigrants, while another city church advertised a “deportation defense workshop.”
Dozens of churches in Houston and Los Angeles offered sanctuary to anyone afraid of being arrested. In Miami, activists handed out flyers outside churches to help immigrants know their rights.
“We’re living in a time where the law may permit the government to do certain things, but that doesn’t necessarily make it right,” said the Rev. John Celichowski of St. Clare de Montefalco Parish in Chicago, where the nearly 1,000-member congregation is 90% Hispanic and mostly immigrant.
While federal immigration officials were mum on details, agents had been expected to start a coordinated action Sunday targeting about 2,000 people with final deportation orders in 10 cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Miami.
Activists and city officials reported some U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in New York and Houston a day earlier, but it was unclear if it was part of the same operation.
The Houston advocacy group FIEL said two people were arrested there Saturday.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed there were three incidents involving ICE on Saturday, but agents didn’t succeed in rounding up residents. Speaking at a news conference Sunday in New York, de Blasio called the operation “a political act” by President Donald Trump.