Council Launches NC Sanctuary Coalition

The North Carolina Council of Churches and its allies across North Carolina invite others to join the NC Sanctuary Coalition. We first announced plans for the coalition at a press conference in March 2018. That day Rosa Ortez Cruz entered into sanctuary with the support of Presbyterian Church of Reconciliation and Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship. Since then 17 congregations and 16 organizations have become part of the Coalition.

This network of faith communities, organizations, and individuals pledge to stand with immigrants who are threatened by deportation for reasons that are unfair and often violate their rights. Members of the coalition pledge to stay engaged in the short term by providing a safe harbor for immigrant neighbors or supporting those faith communities who are providing shelter. For the long term, coalition supporters are united in advocacy efforts that can bring comprehensive immigration reform to this country.

“Many people in this country, and certainly here in North Carolina, would be ashamed of the truth about immigration policy in this country if they actually knew the details,” said Jennifer Copeland, Executive Director of the North Carolina Council of Churches. “Our communities are full of hard-working, responsible neighbors, who are undocumented because of archaic and unreasonable immigration policies. I dare say, if all the undocumented residents of our towns all packed up and left this week, our local economies would grind to a halt. Only then would we appreciate the great gifts our immigrant neighbors provide every day.”

While the coalition works on the ambitious goal of comprehensive immigration reform, they continue to work for public awareness of who is in sanctuary, why they are there, and what can be done to support their cases. The coalition continues to reach out to other faith communities and organizations to build awareness of the crisis and work for substantive change.

The NC Sanctuary Coalition pledge is on the web here. All are invited to sign up to support this cause. All signers will also receive weekly updates about the current sanctuary residents, related important events, and action alerts.