U.S. churches may be attracting fewer people in\nthe pews, but their sanctuary business is blessed with illegal aliens moving into\ntheir basements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A group of Central American migrants has resided for nearly three years inside two Austin, Texas, churches<\/a>. In North Carolina<\/a>, a Guatemalan national in the U.S. illegally since 1994 just marked her second year ensconced at a \u201csanctuary\u201d church. And other churches from Boston to Baltimore are sheltering border jumpers and visa overstays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The case of Juana Tobar\nOrtega, the aforementioned Guatemalan, illustrates how religious groups furnish\nroom, board and a smorgasbord of services to a growing flock of illegal aliens\nin open defiance of U.S. immigration laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before holing up at Greensboro\u2019s\nSt. Barnabas Church, the 46-year-old Ortega had never set foot in the building.\nSince she first began hiding from immigration officials in the church basement,\nOrtega has \u201creceived extensive access to the legal system [though she]has no\nlawful basis to remain in the country,\u201d ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said. Three\nimmigration attorneys have provided more than $20,000 in legal services on her\nbehalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need to violate the law\nin order to do the right thing,\u201d Ortega says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Clearly, Ortega has violated\nU.S. immigration law, though she\u2019s a little hazy on what she means by doing\n\u201cthe right thing.\u201d A key tenet of civil disobedience is accepting the consequences\nof violating the law in order to draw attention to the alleged immorality\nundergirding it. But Ortega\u2019s just an illegal alien who got caught and doesn\u2019t\nlike the fact that her removal would be both lawful and completely moral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though Texas and North Carolina outlaw\nso-called sanctuary cities, churches enjoy a de facto dispensation to offer\nextended-stay lodging to migrants. The wayfaring aliens are shielded by an ICE policy that discourages\nfederal agents from making arrests inside \u201csensitive\u201d locations, which include\nchurches, hospitals and schools, except in exigent circumstances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Because American\nreligious institutions are subject only to very limited government regulation,\nU.S. law enforcement agencies are loathe to force entry into places of worship\n(even though no law prohibits them from doing so when a criminal is hiding in a\nchurch).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this quasi-legal vacuum, faith-based sanctuaries<\/a> have more than doubled<\/a> to some 800 during the past three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic\nChristian Leadership Conference, believes churches have an obligation to\nprotect illegal aliens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUntil we accomplish lasting, comprehensive immigration reform,\nchurches have every right to provide a safe haven for hard-working, God-fearing\nindividuals and families not involved in nefarious activities, regardless of\nimmigration status,\u201d Rodriguez says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nice try, reverend. As FAIR has noted<\/a>, harboring illegal aliens is a federal crime \u2013 and there are no exceptions for the clergy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As for separation of church and state concerns,\nthey only seem to bother modern religious institutions when the Constitution\ninterferes with their social justice agenda. Local governments across the\ncountry allocate funds for church-based groups that give shelter and legal\nservices to illegal aliens, even in states with anti-sanctuary laws. Yet none\nof these institutions refuse such funds on separation of church and state\ngrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deep in the heart of Texas, the city of San Antonio engages in such collusion by annually funneling tax dollars<\/a> to faith-based groups that aid and shelter illegal aliens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n