The United States has a long history of providing refuge to immigrants escaping persecution. From the black slaves escaping the South via the Underground Railroad in early 19th century to European migrants fleeing religious persecution.
Since before the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the stretch of land between the Pacific and Atlantic have embraced migrants to become the largest melting pot in the world.
Over the past year, a rhetoric to marginalise and even vilify immigrants have taken centre stage. Driven by hostility-laden presidential candidacy speeches, the discourse of tainting migrants as criminal elements of the society has steadily become a norm. In the wake of the 2016 US elections, executive orders and White House policies and press releases established that immigrants are not welcome by the executive branch of the government.
The might of the Oval Office can only intimidate so much, as exhibited by a 2017 incarnation of the Underground Railroad. On the West Coast, where the majority of the population find themselves opposing the democratically-elected commander-in-chief of the United States, a movement is brewing.
Religious leaders have come forward to establish safe houses in their buildings to protect illegal migrants from being seized and deported by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – the federal agency in charge of migration and customs. The constitution protects religious institutions from being entered and searched without a warrant. Still, harbouring a reasonable fear about a possible amendment, clergymen in Southern California have taken to preparing safe houses for undocumented immigrants who fled to the US under severe circumstances.
Many of these “illegal” immigrants are from Latin American countries torn apart by civil wars and gang rivalries. Many have fled the perennial conflict in the Middle East. For most of them, if not all, repatriation is tantamount to a death sentence.
Reverend Zach Hoover from Los Angeles has set up a series of safe houses in his parish to protect undocumented immigrants from being deported. Pastor Ada Valiente, another California native, is setting up the same form of sanctuaries in homes.
Their appeal to protect the vulnerable families was met with laudable responses. Legal support is being provided by Jewish organisations based in Los Angeles.
The Christian clergy is not alone in this valiant effort, they are supported by people of numerous faiths. But their goal and ideology is but one – to do good by their fellow man and not stand by while others are persecuted.
Fully knowing the consequences of their actions, which are felony under both state and federal laws, the movement is going strong. Hiding a fugitive, obstructing officers of law in the line of duty are punishable offences in the US.
CNN quotes Pastor Valiente: “US immigration laws are broken and the church's foundation are the families.”
Many have drawn parallels with the Nazi government persecuting Jews, which prompted many Germans to conceal their Jewish friends. However the case may be, the scenario appears to be leading up to a confrontation between the men of the cloth and the executive office. Since the presidential inauguration, presidential decisions to isolate and expel undocumented immigrants have been challenged on legal and moral grounds.
As one anonymous shelter-provider says: “We are all answerable to state and federal law, but at the end of the day, we all answer to God’s law.”
Thursday, June 04, 2026
