South Carolina Church Becomes The State's First Sanctuary Church

Clayton Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church, a teeny little church in Newberry, South Carolina will begin sheltering undocumented immigrants who face deportation orders despite the possible legal consequences from the federal government and the Asshat-In-Chief, making it the state’s first “sanctuary church,” flouting the federal law that makes it illegal to knowingly harbor undocumented immigrants.

Sam Stone, the church’s board chairman, and the congregation feel compelled by their faith to protect people who have been mistreated by an unjust immigration system:

“People have to live. They have to eat. They have to take care of their children, send them to school. We make it impossible for them to do these things. When they try to find a way to do those things, we prosecute them. Our faith just calls for us to treat people better than that.”

The church, with a congregation of just fifteen, will select and house up to two immigrants at a time in its fellowship hall, and help those immigrants hire attorneys to fight their deportation orders.

The good news is that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] agents generally won’t raid churches or other “sensitive” locations, such as hospitals or schools, but the bad news is there is no law in this state to protect immigrants staying at Clayton Memorial, or to protect church members from being charged themselves.

But Stone, and the church, have decided that the risk is worth it because they would like to see wholesale immigration change in this country, starting with giving undocumented immigrants an easier path to citizenship so they don’t feel the need to come illegally.

Wouldn’t that be a better way to stem the tide of illegal immigration, rather than arresting adults and putting kids in cages?

Asking for a country …

The State