The church covenant makes it clear: The congregation is to be “a safe haven, free from the fear of judgment, where wounds are healed, differences are celebrated and inclusivity is intentional.”
Eighteen years ago, when they wrote that covenant, members of Umstead Park United Church of Christ might not have imagined that “safe haven” might also mean a place of sanctuary where a 39-year-old Mexican immigrant would take refuge from the immediate threat of deportation.
But in hindsight, that covenant clause seems prophetic.
This congregation of 300 members has become the first church in Raleigh to convert part of its space into a bedroom. Three other religious communities in North Carolina have done so since May, and another five churches in the state are getting ready to vote on inviting immigrant families into their midst.
Across the nation, 32 congregations — the vast majority Protestant churches — are housing people at risk of deportation, according to Church World Service, which is tracking the development.
While not exactly a groundswell, such faith-based resistance to immigration policy has not been seen since the 1980s, when hundreds of churches and synagogues extended sanctuary to people fleeing civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala.
And it is testing how far the Trump administration is willing to take its tough line on immigration:…
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