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Group to offer immigrants and religious minorities shelter

136 views · Published 27 January 2017 · 2:59 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: LOCAL 12 · 2017 · News & Politics

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CINCINNATI (WKRC) - A handful of local congregations offer a safe place for immigrants and religious minorities fearing a wave of government oppression.

A new administration in Washington resurrects an old religious concept in the Tri-State. A group of churches, mosques, and synagogues Wednesday, January 18, promised to provide sanctuary to people fearing deportation or discrimination. The sanctuary concept has roots in a variety of faith traditions. In medieval England, if someone was being pursued by the government they could cross the threshold of a church and were safe for 40 days.

With all the talk of deporting aliens and registering Muslims, talk of sanctuary is no longer something from the dark ages. At the Clifton mosque Wednesday morning the rare mix of a Rabbi, an Imam and some Preachers responded to the president-elect's hard talk about Muslims and immigrants, especially those with criminal records.

"We are getting them out of our country or incarcerating them. We are getting them out of our country. They are here illegally," Trump said.

If they're in Cincinnati, they have a safe place, "To throw away human beings because they weren't born on a hunk of dirt that I was born on is ludicrous. It's immoral and unethical," Imam Ishmaeel Chartier.

Rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp said, "Whether it's the Torah or the Bible or the Koran, we believe this is a human issue, not a partisan issue, that together we need to be unified in caring for one another."

Two congregations are committed to providing sanctuary and a few others are providing support. The Clifton Mosque says it can shelter up to 15 people in the home next door that has a working kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Christ Church Cathedral in downtown is committed to taking those who show up in need.

Gail Greenwell of Christ Church Cathedral said, "The cathedral has an apartment within the cathedral tower. We have a gymnasium that has a locker room so we have the facilities to house and feed and bathing facilities."

Eventually they hope to have 20 or so churches supporting the sanctuary cause. They liken themselves to the underground railroad and those who protected Jews from the Nazis during World War II. They know it will be unpopular with many and possibly illegal.

"If I have to go to jail for this, I'll go to jail for this. Whatever happens, happens. We have to stand up for humanity. My humanity is inhuman if I'm not helping other people."

The sanctuary concept is an ancient one but it was put to use in Cincinnati in the 1980's to protect refugees displaced by the civil war in El Salvador. 

"The Amos Project" organized the sanctuary network. That's the interfaith social justice agency that supported Issue 44, the recently-passed ballot initiative that will fund pre-school education in Cincinnati Public Schools.

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