For 100 days as of Saturday, Rosa Robles Loreto has found refuge at Southside Presbyterian Church. The Mexican-born wife and mother of two has avoided being torn from her family under a deportation order and has become a principal figure in the rebirth of the national sanctuary movement.
That movement is in defiance of an onerous immigration policy that snares and splits families. The renewed sanctuary coalition opposes the deportation of undocumented immigrants who have committed no crimes but are caught in the collaborative web of local police departments and immigration agents.
The effort to keep families united is defined by its supporters. Two of those many passionate individuals are Tucsonans Leslie Carlson and Jose Serrano, whose commitments to justice are unwavering.
“We are called by our faith to love our neighbor and stand by people who are suffering injustices,” said Carlson, a longtime member of the Southside congregation.
For Serrano, a leader at his Catholic church, the overly aggressive threat of deportation of individuals like Robles Loreto, who was stopped for a minor traffic infraction and turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol, is destructive to families.
Yesterday, Serrano and Carlson joined other Tucsonans to demonstrate their continuing support for Robles Loreto and to call on the Obama administration to drop her deportation order. The event also affirmed the strengthening sanctuary movement which now involves six individuals in five U.S. cities.
In addition to Robles Loreto, Francisco Pérez Cordova, 37, is in sanctuary at St. Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church. The other sanctuary cities are Tempe; Chicago; Portland, Oregon; and Denver.
Sarah Launius, a Tucson spokeswoman for the sanctuary movement, said 24 congregations in 12 cities are ready to offer sanctuary if someone comes forward. A coalition of 70 churches and synagogues support the sanctuary congregations with money, volunteers and other assistance.
“The time is now for faith communities to step up,” said Launius.
Carlson joined the sanctuary movement during its first phase in the early ’80s when an international network, from Canada to Central America, helped scores of Central American refugees escape violence and find safety in this country. At its height some 500 congregations were involved.
A daughter of suburban Oregon Republicans, Carlson said she found a home at Southside Presbyterian, the birthplace of the sanctuary network.
A self-employed human resources program analyst, Carlson found in Southside a community of individuals willing to take risks and to live their faith. “It blew my mind and went straight to my heart.”
The U.S. government came hard at the movement, indicting several of its leaders in the mid-1980s, including the Rev. John Fife of Southside and Jim Corbett. The underground railroad eventually ceased, but Carlson continued with other causes, including the Samaritans, who venture into the desert to give first aid to undocumented immigrants in distress.
Serrano, an employee of Northwest Medical Center, became a sanctuary volunteer earlier this year when his congregation, Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church on the west side, initiated discussions about joining sanctuary. The church is interested in joining.
But his faith-driven commitment stretches back to the early 1980s when Serrano, the son of Mexican immigrants, entered a Dominican order seminary.
There, he heard from missionaries who witnessed the violence committed by the U.S.-backed regimes on students, labor activists and Christian-based organizations. Families were destroyed. Lives were lost.
While he left the seminary, the experience expanded his understanding of global events that affect local communities like Tucson, where Serrano grew up. It also deepened his connection to his Christian faith and strengthened his commitment to his Catholic values.
When Serrano met Robles Loreto, her story resonated with him. He has family members who are undocumented and could be targets for deportation.
He, like all the many volunteers, have every reason to support sanctuary.
“There is no reason I shouldn’t be involved.”
