photo credit: Glo Wellman
Faith leaders and supporters gathered in Santa Rosa's Old Courthouse Square on
April 16, to declare their congregations as sanctuaries for persecuted individuals.

A group of faith leaders from around Sonoma County rallied Wednesday afternoon in Santa Rosa, in response to the Trump administration's threats of mass deportations.

Immigration and Customs enforcement - ICE - arrested an undocumented immigrant in Santa Rosa in March, and allegedly apprehended another in Petaluma earlier this month.

As the fear of further arrests grows, faith-based organizations throughout Sonoma County are joining a call to action, declaring themselves sanctuary spaces, said Pastor Lindsey Bell-Kerr.

"Saying that my congregation is sanctuary means that I'm saying that what our administration is doing right now is not only illegal, it is immoral," Bell-Kerr said. "It is against the very premise of what it means to love our neighbors as ourselves, to respect the full dignity of each human being."

Churches and other houses of faith, Bell-Kerr noted, had been protected by the sensitive locations memo.

"Which meant that ICE would opt not to arrest or harass migrants at houses of worship, hospitals, libraries, places like that," Bell-Kerr said. "Where people need to go to access essential services and should feel safe."

The Trump administration revoked the sensitive location protections in January.

Eight churches, including Bell-Kerr's Christ Church United Methodist in Santa Rosa, as well as Universalist, and Quaker congregations, and one synagogue are joining this current sanctuary effort.

"It's important for the entire county to know that not only my congregation, but other congregations are places where people can come," Bell-Kerr said. "Migrants, LGBTQ, folks, other people who are being oppressed by this administration, those folks can come to our congregations and we'll do everything we can to keep them safe."

There is historical precedent, Bell-Kerr noted, for churches to offer sanctuary spaces, dating back before the first Trump administration.

"This stands on the shoulders of the sanctuary movement in the United States in the 80's," Bell-Kerr said. "It stands on the the movement, led often by black churches of the underground railroad, the abolitionist movement...this movement is also in line with the Confessing Church movement that stood against the fascist regime in Germany in the 1930's."

Bell-Kerr said the sanctuary coalition also includes non-faith groups like VIDAS, Vital Immigrant Defense Advocacy and Services, as well as labor organizations, and community support groups like the Living Room.

Bell-Kerr said the coalition is calling on the county declare itself a sanctuary jurisdiction as well. Sonoma County supervisors have pledged to support migrants to the fullest extent of the law.