PRAIRIE VILLAGE — After President Donald Trump took office, a small church in Kansas City retreated underground — abandoning their sanctuary for the basement.
Rick Behrens, senior pastor at Grandview Park Presbyterian Church, said he moved services to the locked basement in response to the administration’s decision to allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to enter churches.
“It is ironic and shameful, is it not, that the safe spaces we call sanctuaries are no longer safe spaces,” Behrens said. “Because we are under attack from our own government.”
Behrens spoke alongside other faith leaders and immigrant activists Thursday at an interfaith prayer vigil in Prairie Village. Speakers encouraged churches — especially large congregations — to start fighting for immigrants.
“It’s easy to come to events like this and believe we’ve done something monumental,” Behrens said. “Don’t get me wrong, prayer can be and has been the start of many monumental movements, but by praying we can also feel that we somehow fulfilled our requirement to love our neighbors without doing anything.”
Behrens’ underground church has become an organizing hub in Kansas City. He has trained community members to rapidly respond when they spot immigration enforcement officers, accompany immigrants, and monitor the courts.
Speakers said those volunteer networks are especially needed with the FIFA World Cup approaching — they expect more immigration enforcement than usual.
Carolyne Muriu, a representative for Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, immigrated from Kenya when she was 12 years old.
“It should be a moment of celebration, but it is becoming a moment of fear for a lot of immigrants,” Muriu said. “So we have to make plans to protect ourselves.”
Jess Ferrell, executive director for the Center of Grace community center in Olathe, relied on a network of volunteers after she received an anonymous tip that ICE agents planned to raid parent pickup at the center. She said she will never be sure if it was a legitimate threat.
“We realized we do not have a way to safely get (the kids) off our property home with their parents, who are at work, because armed agents might show up and try to kidnap their parents in front of them, using children as bait,” Ferrell said.
Jess Ferrell, executive director for the Center of Grace community center, recounted the time she feared ICE agents planned to raid the center during parent pickup. She spoke April 30 in Prairie Village. (Photo by Grace Hills for Kansas Reflector)
The anonymous tip came in around 9 a.m. Ferrell said for the next nine hours, rapid response volunteers came to help. All 48 kids made it home safely.
Jacob Poindexter, senior minister at Wichita United Church of Christ asked a profound question bluntly.
“Which side are you going to be on? Which side are we going to take a risk for?” he asked. “Because you’re taking a risk, no matter which side you choose. If you do nothing, you are taking a risk. If you do something, at least it’s a worthwhile risk.”
Earlier Thursday, the pastor of the largest church in Kansas and largest United Methodist Church in the country, Adam Hamilton, announced his bid for the U.S. Senate to replace GOP incumbent and Trump loyalist Sen. Roger Marshall.
Hamilton’s campaign as an “independently minded Democrat” has drawn criticism from more progressive democrats, especially for his ambiguous stance on abortion.
None of the speakers would outright enforce Hamilton.
“If a pastor runs for political office it’s fantastic,” Poindexter said.