Last week, the federal Department of Homeland Security reversed longtime policies restricting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection arrests in certain locations including churches, schools, and hospitals.
The department’s announcement has sparked fierce pushback from immigrant advocates, school officials, and faith leaders. For decades, some religious activists have used houses of worship as “sanctuaries” to shelter migrants in danger of deportation. DHS’ policy reversal came swiftly after Trump’s inauguration and is part of the administration’s efforts to ramp up removal of undocumented people, with daily ICE arrests quickly rising to more than 1,000, per the agency. An Atlanta man was already arrested by immigration agents outside his church.
“Christians have been tempted by—what do we call it?—I guess the siren song of power.”
