Danbury, CT church may help illegal families...

Danbury church may help illegal families


Unitarians would be first congregation in state to join national movement


By Eugene Driscoll
The News Times (Danbury, CT), March 30, 2008

Danbury, CT -- The Unitarian Universalist Congregation is considering joining a national faith-based movement that assists families targeted by the federal government for deportation.

In some cases, churches aligned with the New Sanctuary Movement provide refuge to targeted families by allowing them to live at a congregant's home or inside the church -- a place the government is traditionally hesitant to enter to make an arrest.

However, it remains to be seen whether the Unitarians in Danbury would take that route. The congregation could opt to help illegal immigrant families simply by assisting with legal cases and attracting publicity to their plight.

'My sense is that we would publicize and help with legal cases,' said Carl Tichler, the Danbury congregation's president.

The 150-member congregation is scheduled to vote on whether to join the sanctuary movement at its May 16 annual meeting. The church will play host to a number of immigration-related forums meant to educate members before the vote.

'The process we're going through now is to learn more about it, to listen to people in the community and to listen from people in the Sanctuary Movement itself. Then we'll come to a decision,' Tichler said.

Even if the Danbury Unitarians decided to physically provide sanctuary, the congregation would not take in illegal immigrants willy-nilly.

Sanctuary supporters said a goal is to put a face on illegal immigration -- to tell the stories of families who could be torn apart through deportation because of failed U.S. immigration policies.

'It's not about hiding,' said Susan Leslie, of the Unitarian Universalist Association's advocacy and witness staff group. 'This is very open. People have decided to openly challenge deportation orders. There is dialogue with ICE and immigration authorities.'

Churches that provide sanctuary look for families where the mother or father face deportation and the children are U.S.-born citizens, Leslie said. Families are vetted to make sure their members do not have criminal records. Entering the country illegally is a civil offense, except for those returning after having been removed, for whom it is a criminal offense.

The New Sanctuary Movement formed last year when religious leaders from 18 cities and dozens of denominations met in Washington and called for an end to immigration raids until Congress enacts meaningful immigration reform.

The religious groups in the sanctuary movement see cracking down on illegal immigrants as a human rights issue. It is called the 'new' sanctuary movement because a similar movement took place in the early 1980s, when churches gave sanctuary to people fleeing oppressive, violent governments in Central America.

The movement is not without detractors.

'These are political activists hiding behind clerical collars and church affiliations to wage a battle against the legitimate right of the United States to establish and enforce immigration laws,' officials from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based lobbying group said last year.

'They do not represent the views of the vast majority of people of faith in the United States.'

The New Sanctuary Movement was mentioned during a recent meeting of U.S. Citizens for Immigration Law Enforcement, a Danbury-based group that considers illegal immigrants criminals and calls for mass deportations.

Members questioned former Common Council member Lynn Taborsak's involvement in potentially bringing the movement to Danbury. Taborsak is a congregant of the Danbury Unitarian Church and serves on its social action committee.

Taborsak said she was 'not available for comment' about the New Sanctuary Movement discussion at the church, because the church's board of trustees chose Carl Tichler as its official spokesperson on the issue.

The Danbury Unitarians would be the first congregation in Connecticut to join the New Sanctuary Movement. A Unitarian congregation in Stamford has also made inquiries.

New York City has several churches involved in the movement and a Roman Catholic priest from the city is expected to come to Danbury to explain it in detail.

Illegal immigration has become a focal point of Mayor Mark Boughton's administration. He has held the office since 2001 and has been re-elected three times.

In February, the Common Council gave Danbury Police Chief Al Baker permission to send officers for training from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The training will give the officers -- most likely two detectives, according to city officials -- the authority to enforce immigration law.

The Common Council's move was met with mass opposition from civil rights and immigrants' rights groups and has led to widespread fear among illegal immigrants in Danbury.

Meanwhile, ICE agents have become much more active in Danbury, taking in an average of one or two illegal immigrants per week, according to statements coming from Danbury City Hall.

Boughton said he objected to a house of worship becoming political.

'In a city where Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptists delineating the separation of church and state, I think any time a church gets involved with governmental affairs or political affairs, it really is a slippery slope toward blurring the lines between church and state,' the mayor said.

'Beyond that, as long as their actions don't impede the enforcement of federal law, then they are free to do and say whatever they want. I may not agree with them, but they certainly have their First Amendment rights.'



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