God raises his border against Trump
Religious leaders across the US are preparing strategies to protect immigrants from raids, which the Republican president will now allow in places of worship
They pray, eat, receive a fresh change of clothes, shower and leave. As of this week, migrants who arrive at the Christian El Buen Pastor church in Mesa, Arizona, after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border without a visa, can only stay a few hours, barely enough to buy a bus or plane ticket and continue on their way. “We want them to leave the same day if possible,” says Pastor Héctor Ramírez. Every Thursday he receives a van with migrants released from the ICE detention center, located in Eloy, an hour by road from the church. Previously, they could stay overnight. But since President Donald Trump gave carte blanche to detain migrants in places of worship, schools, and hospitals, which used to be off-limits to raids, the pastor does not want anyone to linger so as not to risk being arrested. Half of the congregation are also undocumented people, some of whom have been in the United States for decades, and out of fear of being arrested they have stopped going to church.
