Sanctuary for the Undocumented: Above the Law, but Faithful to a Higher Authority

On more than one occasion, in response to the activities that take place at our two churches, which offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants and refugees from Central America, the Western regional commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Harold Ezell, has stressed that “no one is above the law.” He emphasizes with each declaration that if he discovers that we are “aiding, abetting and harboring” the undocumented, we will be held to answer to the law.

We write, then, to clarify our position: that although we are not above the law, the struggle of undocumented people to assert their rights as human beings is.

What we are doing in our ministry to these people is an attempt to approximate what Jesus would do in the same circumstance. This is not guesswork on our part; the Gospel is clear and abundantly full of Jesus’ concern for the poor, the fearful, the persecuted, those who hunger for peace and justice. It is our strong belief that Jesus would, with ease, find himself aiding, abetting and harboring our sisters and brothers who have come to our community in hope and instead are hunted because they lack the papers that would allow them to stay.

Jesus, of course, would seek to do even more: He would publicly denounce unjust policies and laws so that hearts would change and that such personal conversion would result in the radical transformation of policy and law.

It is our sincere hope to act toward the undocumented as Jesus would. To do otherwise would be to deny a tradition that has been respected ever since the Lord commanded: “When aliens reside with you in your land, do not mistreat them. You shall treat the aliens who reside with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for them as for yourselves . . . .” (Leviticus 19:33-34).

As a response to that call, we clothe, feed and provide shelter for those undocumented whose only crime has been the desire to pursue their fundamental human right to work and thus feed themselves and their families. We do this knowing that in caring for “the least” we opt for Christ’s poor and oppressed.

In the light of the gospel call to justice, we find ourselves unable to remain silent in the face of what is denied the undocumented community.

This is why we condemn employer sanctions and the INS’ employee-verification protocol as immoral in their intent to deprive so many of their God-given right to work.

This is why we denounce the street sweeps of day laborers and continue to encourage employers to hire them and pay them honest wages for their labor.

This is why we deplore practices of physical aggression and psychological abuse perpetrated by the INS against the undocumented, especially those being held out of sight in detention centers.

This is why we publicly call on all people of faith to join the undocumented in their struggle.

And this is why we oppose laws and policies that would legitimize the designation of people without documents as non-persons, subhuman, not worthy of the respect and dignity afforded the rest of us.

In preferentially opting for the poor in Los Angeles, we have sought to align ourselves with the undocumented, denouncing laws and attitudes that seek to deny their basic rights and calling all citizens of moral courage to care for these culturally disparaged and oppressed women and men. For, as Archbishop Roger Mahony states, such laws and attitudes would tell us “that these people are now outside the framework of our concern as a society; our Christian tradition tells us the opposite.”

When laws trample human rights, they must not be obeyed. When policies subordinate the needs and rights of people to order and convenience, they must be denounced.

To the extent that we openly aid, abet and harbor the undocumented, we indeed are breaking the law. The gospel would have us do no other.

We do so fully aware of the consequences of our actions. And yet we cannot help but feel that what little we are able to say and do remains insignificant compared to the depth of suffering and commitment of our sisters and brothers struggling to assert their rights as human beings. Our integrity as ministers of the Word could never be kept whole were we to remain immobile and transfixed by the law’s claim and deaf to the cry of the poor.

In seeking to make public again the private and intense pain of the undocumented, we pray that God’s grace will break through all hearts of stone so that, finally, cold indifference will give way to a compassionate justice for the poor.