WHAT DOES "SANCTUARY" mean today? The church I attend in Hyattsville, Md., a close-in suburb of Washington, D.C., took up this question after the 2016 presidential election.
Hyattsville Mennonite Church had been a “sanctuary church” in the 1980s. Given the current increase in the legitimate fear of deportation in the migrant community, we considered renewing our commitment to offering sanctuary.
In the 1980s, sanctuary was offered in the context of people fleeing the violence and devastation of the wars in Central America. In those days, offering sanctuary meant offering physical protection to individuals by housing them in churches—but it was also a broadly political statement of opposition to the U.S. government support for the wars in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador.
Today the situation is different. The last comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration laws took place 30 years ago. Since then millions of undocumented people have established lives in the U.S. They’ve had families and raised their children here. But immigration laws have not kept pace, and paths to regularize their immigration status have been increasingly blocked. For most, there simply is no path.
During the Obama administration, Congress was unable to pass comprehensive immigration reform. President Obama used the power of executive orders to deter deportation of some immigrants who came to the U.S. as children—the Dreamers. Under President Trump, even the Dreamers are now at risk.
Today, those needing protection from detention on immigration infractions and deportation are all around us. Mennonites are a community of faith committed to following Christ’s teachings to welcome all, without precondition, especially those who are downtrodden, forgotten, and despised—the weak, the hungry, the stranger in our midst (Matthew 25)—and to “act justly, to love mercy, and walk humbly with God” (Micah 6).
“From the 16th to the 20th centuries,” we are reminded in our church statement, “Anabaptists and Mennonites fleeing religious persecution, wars, and economic oppression found safety and freedom in the United States, Canada, Catherine the Great’s Russia, Paraguay, Mexico, and other places. The experience of refugee status and transnational migrations is in our stories, songs, foodways, and Christian beliefs.”
For Hyattsville Mennonite, offering sanctuary might mean housing undocumented persons, but that’s not our central question. In 2013, our church became a “Safe Congregation” and promised that “each person in the midst of our church community should have the assurance that our church is a safe place, without fear or threat of violence.” Now we ask what it means to be a safe church committed to building a safe community today.
In response, we are learning about the impact of changes in immigration laws on our neighbors. We’ve asked migrant organizations what they need; learned our rights and the rights of the undocumented; partnered with a neighboring church with a large migrant population; learned how to protect individuals subject to deportation; engaged with the city council as it considered declaring Hyattsville a sanctuary city (which it did in April); attended public protests; and contacted our members of Congress.
We’ve learned that children whose families are under threat of deportation are suffering from trauma. In response, we are working to connect counselors and social workers with children in need of help. At some point, we may accompany immigrants to appointments with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but that’s not yet a need where we live.
We have stepped out of our congregational bubble. We are becoming better neighbors by listening and learning about those around us. The actions we take as a sanctuary church will be defined by the needs of our community. We are living our faith and becoming better citizens.
Joy Olson is an expert on human rights and U.S. policy toward Latin America. She lives in Washington, D.C.
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