Canada and the U.S. have effectively decided to crack down on migrants crossing unofficial border points into Canada. Here’s why this approach misses the bigger picture.
White sage is being commonly used for purification rituals.
Stevica Mrdja / EyeEm via Getty Images
The religious right may have dominated US politics for decades, but progressive Christians are growing louder in their faith-based opposition to the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Honduran migrant Vicky Chavez with her daughter Issabella on May 31, 2018 in the First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City, where she sought protection from deportation in late 2017.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Mario Garcia, University of California, Santa Barbara
The number of migrants living in churches has spiked recently in anticipation of threatened immigration raids, but churches have long protected refugees in an act of faith-based civil disobedience.
A new Trump ruling will prohibit virtually all Central American migrants from seeking asylum in the United States.
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Scripture strongly and unequivocally affirms the obligation to treat strangers with dignity and hospitality, says a Christian scholar who turns to the Bible for guidance on Trump’s immigration policy.
St Augustine Catholic Church Archive.
David LaFevor
Catholic Church records document the earliest black history in the US, going back to the 1590s. These records tell the histories of Africans, free and enslaved, who were part of Spanish expeditions.
Alternative models to host asylum seekers have proved their efficiency. Venice has been a sanctuary city for years and with the right policies, it could be reproduced.
Students protesting on campus in Davis, California, following the election of Donald Trump.
Max Whittaker/Reuters
Students and faculty are demanding universities declare themselves sanctuary campuses. Historically, sanctuary offered both legal and moral protection for the vulnerable.
Anglican Dean of Brisbane Dr Peter Catt is leading a sanctuary offer to asylum-seekers facing deportation to Nauru.
AAP Image/Dan Peled
In offering to open church buildings across Australia as places of sanctuary for asylum seekers, church leaders are appealing to an ancient notion of how we should treat people in need of protection.