Offering sanctuary
Portland church becomes safe haven for immigrant By Steve Lundeberg
I
n his adopted hometown in the drizzly Pacifi c North- west, Francisco Aguirre has taken to donning a navy blue fl atcap. It was on one of the many rainy days that
Portland, Ore., is known for that the Salvadoran acquired his hat—by rescuing it from the pavement. “I picked it up and looked at it,” Aguirre said. “My
wife said, ‘You know, you could wear that.’ ” His wife, Dora, was right—as it rests upon his head,
above deep brown eyes and close-cropped beard, the cap looks like it was made for him. As autumn arrived, though, Aguirre didn’t need the
cap for protection from the elements. Sheltering him 24 hours a day, both from the weather and from immigra- tion offi cials who seek his deportation, was a 108-year- old congregation founded by Swedish immigrants. Aguirre sought refuge at Augustana Lutheran Church
on Sept. 19 aſt er Immigration and Customs Enforce- ment agents arrived at his home in Fairview, 15 miles east of Portland. Aguirre is in the U.S. illegally but has retained an immigration attorney who’s helping him try to secure a U visa for victims of violent crime (he says he was recently the victim of a knife attack on the job). Aguirre landed on the ICE radar aſt er an August
arrest on suspicion of driving under the infl uence, though he passed a fi eld sobriety test. T e ICE agents who showed up at his home lacked a warrant, so Aguirre refused to go with them and
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www.thelutheran.org
instead sought sanctu- ary at Augustana. T e father of two U.S. citizens isn’t a member there, but through his work with the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice (known as IMIrJ), hoped that Augustana could help him. Augustana serves as the home offi ce for IMIrJ.
MARK YLEN
Augustana Lutheran Church, Portland,
Ore., is temporary
home to Francisco Aguirre, who sought sanctuary there Sept. 19. Augustana has grown from 230 to more than 900 members since becoming a “sanctuary church” some 19 years ago. Social justice issues and inclusivity are part of the parish’s daily life, said Mark Knutson, pastor.
No hesitation Mark Knutson, pastor of Augustana, was out of town when Aguirre’s request reached him but didn’t hesitate. Augustana would become the fi rst congregation in Oregon to house an immigrant with documentation problems. Aguirre, 35, said he was 6 when a military group, the
Greens, stole him from his parents, putting him to work shining soldiers’ shoes. He eventually escaped, though he never was able to reconnect with his family. He began working as a community organizer pushing for justice, fairness and other basic aspects of human dignity. By the time he was 17, persecuted by those opposed
to his work and weary of war, Aguirre felt he had “no other choice” but to leave El Salvador for the U.S. It
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