The Samaritans are part of a broad network of organizations working in the Sonoran Desert to save as many immigrants as they can, and to find the bodies of those they can’t
They have done it before and now they are doing it again. Under the specter of US president-elect Donald Trump’s threats to deport millions of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, churches again are rising up and declaring that they are a place of sanctuary for those fleeing the clutches of the US Department of Homeland Security. Now, as many as 400 US churches and synagogues, across the breadth and height of the nation, are declaring that immigrants may seek refuge in their buildings.
I invite you to celebrate lille Juleaften with me this year. Finish your chores, put on your Christmas finery, and take a moment’s rest before the feast to come.
A new study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life examines where immigrants to the United States come from and their religious affiliation.