Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Austin bolsters sanctuary network

Churches band together, offer illegal aliens place to stay

- CLAUDIA LAUER

AUSTIN, Texas — Senior Minister Meg Barnhouse knows she’ll need beds, a dresser, chairs and a mirror to make the classroom at the First Unitarian Universali­st Church of Austin feel more like a home for a mother and her young daughter who are still deciding whether they will become the latest illegal aliens seeking sanctuary from deportatio­n by moving into a church.

It would be the second time Barnhouse’s congregati­on had offered sanctuary. She was hesitant in 2015 because of the unknown legal and insurance risks, but this time she agreed immediatel­y.

There is growing fear in the city’s immigrant community as President Donald Trump’s immigratio­n and executive orders go into effect. And as more than 50 Austin-area residents were detained in U.S. Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t deportatio­n raids last month, a growing number of churches in the Austin Sanctuary Network are volunteeri­ng to offer shelter or support to churches that do.

The Austin Sanctuary Network has broadened in the past year from a handful of churches and advocates to more than two dozen congregati­ons and religious groups, three labor unions, several nonprofit groups and dozens of individual volunteers. This mirrors the loosely organized national sanctuary movement that has grown to more than 800 churches and congregati­ons, with a good portion of those joining since Trump was elected.

“It’s bewilderin­g for people at this point. It’s like trying to repair furniture when the house is on fire,” said Pastor Jim Rigby, whose congregati­on at St. Andrew’s Presbyteri­an Church in Austin has provided sanctuary to Guatemalan illegal alien Hilda Ramirez and her 10-year-old son, Ivan, for more than a year. “Opening our arms to our neighbors goes without question.”

Pastor Laura Walter’s small Presbyteri­an congregati­on in Bee Cave, 12 miles west of Austin, hopes her church can expand the network to reach immigrant communitie­s outside city limits. They are still discussing whether the small church has room to offer shelter or whether they could get a permit to build a temporary one.

“Our faith calls us to live this out,” Walters said. “In the near future we’ll be at the very least helping support refugees and asylum seekers.”

The churches are relying on a 2011 Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t policy directive telling agents to avoid “sensitive areas” such as churches, hospitals and schools when conducting deportatio­n actions under most circumstan­ces. Federal immigratio­n officials said that policy is still in effect, but recent immigratio­n arrests around the U.S., including inside courthouse­s, are increasing fears.

Austin, a liberal enclave in a conservati­ve state, has had a strong base of immigratio­n activists for years in opposition to a previous sheriff, who cooperated with Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t requests to hold inmates for possible deportatio­n. During the city’s involvemen­t in the Secure Communitie­s Program 7/87/8— a federal-local partnershi­p on deportatio­n ended in 2014 by the Obama administra­tion — an average of 19 people were deported from Travis County each week. Trump has revived the program.

Sheriff Sally Hernandez, who took office in January, has decreased cooperatio­n with immigratio­n officials by not automatica­lly granting requests to hold migrants for possible deportatio­n. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has withheld nearly $1.5 million in state grant funds from Travis County in response.

A Department of Homeland Security report last week singled out Travis County and a handful of other counties for denying immigrant detention requests, although local officials pushed back against some of the informatio­n in the report.

Many of the pastors say they are teaching civil disobedien­ce when necessary, but because the immigrants are openly declaring sanctuary and letting immigratio­n officials know where they are, they don’t believe they are violating the law. U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials declined to discuss the legality of sanctuary, but pointed to the sensitive areas policy.

The increased membership in the Austin network has meant more resources for outreach, including seminars on preparing deportatio­n defense packets that designate who should take custody of children if a parent is detained for deportatio­n proceeding­s.

Volunteers often travel with Ramirez to appointmen­ts as she makes her case for asylum. For eight months, she never left the church grounds. The congregati­on built a green plastic barrier around a small outdoor space so she and Ivan could go outside without worrying about immigratio­n officials.

Ramirez was granted a deportatio­n deferment through October, meaning she can go to the store or do her own laundry, but she told pastors that with the aggressive immigratio­n enforcemen­t actions in recent months, she wants to stay.

The pastors have said the pair are welcome for as long as they want. At the Unitarian Church, Barnhouse and her congregati­on are also prepared to offer sanctuary for as long as the mother and daughter may need. Network volunteers declined to offer details about the mother until she makes her decision.

“It’s very grounding and exciting for a church to be able to live out its mission this tangibly,” Barnhouse said. “We gather in community to nourish souls, transform lives and do justice. That is our mission. … This feels like all of it.”

There is growing fear in the city’s immigrant community as President Donald Trump’s immigratio­n and executive orders go into effect.

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