The Riverside Church & New Sanctuary Movement

Social activism has always been a part of Morningside Heights. And Riverside Church continues the tradition by becoming a champion for the immigrants, Marina Yaloyan reports.

“Stand together in our faith that everyone, regardless of national origin, has basic common rights, including…” a group of people were making a pledge at the Riverside Church on 490 Riverside Drive in New York.

Five families gathered at Riverside Church with one prayer in mind: to be reunited with those they love.

“I do not want my children to be alone without a mother or father,” said Fatimatu.

Fatimatu has 6 children, all of whom are U.S. citizens. And she and her husband are now at risk of being sent back to Senegal.

“To understand the value of family, one only has to ask a child that has lost a family through deportation,” one of the speakers said.

And children are not the only ones who suffer. Jarret Kahn is a U.S. citizen whose Ecuadorian wife was taken away in handcuffs after he tried to get her a green card. 

“I feel frustrated and powerless, powerless,” said Kahn. “When someone tells you they can throw her on the next plane…you are nobody, you know, yeah, you pay your taxes, but you are really nobody.”

Both Fatimatu and Kahn, whose wife is under regular surveillance now, came to Riverside Church because this is the place where 21 interfaith congregations of new york gathered to provide advice and moral support.

The Riverside Church has been a social activist in the neighborhood since 1960s. Last year the church joined a New Sanctuary Movement that attempts to fight the deportation of undocumented immigrant families.

There are estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.. And authorities predict that the number of deportation this year would reach 200,000.

“We are talking about people who have been here, who have worked, who have paid taxes, you know, who are part of this society. We are not talking about the influx coming in,” said Shaykh, T.A. Bashir, founder and CEO, amir of the non-profit Islamic organization the House of Peace.

The New Sanctuary Movement visits immigrants at deportation camps and fights for change in immigration laws. Some young people are part of it.

“My heart was opened to the humanity of the so-called ‘immigrants,’ just like you and me, and also just how real and oppressive is the suffering right now under current immigration law,” a young woman from the Riverside Church.

Taking away that suffering is what they try to do here at the Riverside Church. Marina Yaloyan, Columbia News Tonight.

~ by supermann on May 9, 2008.