More than 800 houses of worship in America have volunteered to shelter illegal immigrants and their families who face deportation, CBS' "60 Minutes" reports.
Under President Donald Trump, Immigration, Customs and Enforcement has detained 11,000 illegal immigrants who have no criminal record, twice as many as last year.
“When a law breaks the backs of God's people then it's time for us to think about breaking those laws,” said Rev. Robin Hynicka of Philadelphia's Arch Street Methodist Church.
Hynicka's church has opened its doors to Flores Garcia, who has a deportation order against him because he repeatedly crossed the border and because of a decade-old DUI charge.
That’s “injustice and oppression, all of which is evil,” says Hynicka.
“When a human being's human rights are denied, when they can't stay with their family, when they can't work, when they can't participate in the community in which they have deep roots, all of those apply.”
In Buffalo, New York, a church has sheltered 40 illegal immigrants since Trump took office and vowed to crack down on illegal immigration. Last week, it offered sanctuary to a family of six from Honduras. Trump's administration has threatened to cut federal funding from sanctuary cities, including New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, but that battle is far from over.
ICE Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale told “60 Minutes” he understandshow traumatic the deportation process can be for families.
“But I will also say that the rule of law is something that America is built on.”
Ragsdale said his advice for people like Garcia is, “they should come out of the basement of the churches and follow the law.”
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