In November 2021, my life changed forever when I met the Rodriguez-Flores family, who were scared and seeking sanctuary from an unjust deportation to Mexico. My community of faith, Plymouth-Trinity United in Sherbrooke, Que., said yes to taking them in — a decision, in retrospect, that feels divinely inspired — and I volunteered to be on their support team.

We knew the risk. There aren’t any municipal, provincial or federal laws that could have protected the family from having immigration officers lawfully enter and apprehend them. Our faith community collectively decided that expelling this family, whose restaurant was burned by the Los Zetas drug cartel after they refused to participate in drug sales or extortion, would be an unfair sentence. But we depended on our faith and the social contract that has kept churches as safe havens for centuries.

The ancient history and practice of offering asylum to those fleeing persecution predates North American law and even Christianity itself. Protecting the vulnerable by offering sanctuary is and always has been a tool to defy unjust laws.

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In the United States, that sacred regard for sanctuary is being bulldozed to the ground with the passing of a new policy allowing Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) officers to conduct arrests in places of worship, schools and health-care facilities. I cannot imagine the fear that this has instilled. I read headlines about what to do if ICE comes to your church and I need to take a deep breath. I think about how I was transformed by my experience of welcoming a stranger. I saw Christ in the faces of the Rodriguez-Flores family.

Georgina, the matriarch, has a desire and aptitude for feeding people almost as great as her unyielding faith in God and her community. Manuel, who is the quiet foundation of his family, has a hardworking attitude coupled with an artist’s soul and an excellent sense of humour. Manolo, their son, is a shy, kind young man, dedicated to his education and deeply committed to his family.

For 13 months, we kept this family safe in the basement of Plymouth-Trinity. We brought them groceries and I memorized the ingredients I would need to get at La Tienda Latina, the local Latin-American grocer, so Georgina could make tortillas, gorditas and corn husk-wrapped tamales. We collaborated with social workers, mental health care, public health nurses and educators and government officials for their day-to-day care. We held press conferences and vigils, and marched in the streets. We celebrated birthdays, Christmas, Easter and Día de los Muertos. We brought them games and friends to visit and we prayed for a day they could leave their shelter to go back to the life they so deeply craved.

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In December 2022, we rejoiced when the family was finally able to gain temporary status and leave the church. While they are still waiting for permanent residence, the family remains optimistic and steadfast.

I’m inspired by the 27 Christian and Jewish groups that have decided to fight back and sue the Trump administration for this new policy. The pledges to defend their congregants and communities are uplifting. In response to a similar lawsuit from Sikh, Baptist and Quaker groups, on Feb. 24, a U.S. federal judge blocked immigration raids at the places of worship that had brought forward the suit. The ruling doesn’t apply across the country. 

As people of faith, we have an opportunity to respond to injustice with righteous indignation. It is not enough to simply pray for safety and justice, but we must do our best to participate, protest, educate and engage.

We cannot mend a broken world if we yield to our own heartbreak. We must respond to the call to build an earth as it is in heaven. I know that I am braver now than I was in 2021. We are all capable of things we cannot imagine until we face them.

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