All posts tagged: sanctuary movement

His arrest went viral. Now Rev. Michael Woolf is preaching what he calls ‘Sanctuary values.’

His arrest went viral. Now Rev. Michael Woolf is preaching what he calls ‘Sanctuary values.’

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — For most people, being slammed to the pavement by a group of police officers and violently handcuffed in front of a screaming crowd would be a traumatic experience. When that situation befell the Rev. Michael Woolf last November as he was protesting outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Chicago, he says the experience was, indeed, “extremely traumatic” — but it was also something else. “I had a lot of clarity when that was happening,” Woolf, with a lingering Alabama twang, told Religion News Service in a recent interview. According to Woolf, a pastor ordained in both the American Baptist Churches USA and Alliance of Baptists denominations, that clarity came from recognizing the significance of a white pastor with U.S. citizenship advocating for immigrant rights. In addition to immigration being an emphasis of his ministry for years, his doctoral dissertation was focused on the Sanctuary Movement, the 1980s-era faith-led effort where houses of worship defied the federal government by offering up their churches as living spaces to migrants from Central America. To …

How the sanctuary movement became the faithful’s answer to ICE raids

How the sanctuary movement became the faithful’s answer to ICE raids

Published by Sam Flores

This is the second in a series of articles about faith and protest. (RNS) — In January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order lifting a 14-year ban on enforcing immigration laws at sensitive locations like churches and schools. It was part of a larger crackdown on mass arrests and deportations that instilled fear in immigrants across the country — and galvanized faith communities and leaders, who drew on a tradition stretching back to the Hebrew Bible to protect and advocate for immigrants.  The crackdown reignited tension between the U.S. government and religious communities over immigration that has flared on and off ever since the birth of the “sanctuary movement” in the early 1980s, when churches and synagogues began offering shelter and support for undocumented immigrants, believing they were obeying a higher moral obligation than U.S. laws. Today the movement continues — and is still led by clergy and religious groups — though the focus has shifted from offering physical shelter to providing aid to immigrants too fearful to leave their homes.   The concept of …

As Springfield’s 15,000 Haitians brace for deportations, local churches train to resist ICE

As Springfield’s 15,000 Haitians brace for deportations, local churches train to resist ICE

Published by Sam Flores

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (RNS) — “We have orders of deportation,” said a volunteer in a raised voice, posing as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and pounding on the sanctuary door. “What you’re doing is harboring.” Inside the sanctuary, hundreds of trainees blocked the large wooden double doors. One called out, “We’re exercising our First Amendment right to freedom of worship.”   The handful of faux ICE agents moved to a different entryway. As they pried open the side door to the sanctuary, some trainees held up phones to record the encounter while others blew whistles. The scenario was part of a roleplay exercise at a rapid response training in Springfield, Ohio, on Saturday (Jan. 24). Despite the winter storm in the forecast, nearly 200 people from in and around Springfield gathered at Central Christian Church for the event organized by G92, a new Springfield-based coalition of pro-immigrant churches and advocates named after the 92 times the Hebrew word “ger,” which means stranger or sojourner, appears in the Hebrew Bible. “For many people, this isn’t just …

When Religious Authority Met Federal Force

When Religious Authority Met Federal Force

Published by Sam Flores

Faith leaders thought their collars would protect them. They were wrong. The Presbyterian minister was wearing his collar. Department of Homeland Security agents shot him in the head with pepper balls anyway. The Unitarian pastor arrived at the scene of a killing in clerical dress. Federal officers fired rounds near her head within the hour. Across American cities, clergy are learning what happens when the federal government no longer appears to respect the moral authority they’ve wielded on for generations. Faith-based resistance to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda started on Day 1 — Bishop Mariann Budde’s sermon at the National Cathedral. But as Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations intensified through Los Angeles, D.C., Chicago and now Minneapolis, the organizing evolved. Rapid response networks. ICE observer trainings. Whistle brigades. Tactics shared between cities.  But clergy collars aren’t always de-escalating anymore. DHS mocks its religious critics on social media, calls them “imbecilic morons” and keeps advancing. Reporter Jack Jenkins has been on the ground watching one of the largest faith-based organizing movements in modern American history …