THE GETHSEMANE Lutheran Church, a plain six-storey building in downtown Seattle whose dark red exterior is adorned by a simple cross, offers something more than worship and community gatherings. It also houses one of more than 1,100 religious communities across the United States which are actively committed to succouring vulnerable immigrants who fear deportation.

For a place of worship to join the Sanctuary movement (whose supporters are mostly Christian churches but also include some synagogues and mosques) can mean helping with legal advice or simply providing a space to drop by. In a few cases, churches provide longer-term physical security for people who might otherwise be arrested and expelled.

Gethsemane, for example, has served as a home for the past few months to José Robles, a 43-year-old man from Mexico who trekked across the desert into the United States 18 years ago. Facing a deportation order, he took refuge in the premises with the hope of biding the time needed to secure a U-Visa, a status he claims on the basis of having been the victim of a violent robbery.

Places of worship are regarded by the American Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) as so-called sensitive locations, where they would avoid making arrests.

In the United States, the Sanctuary campaign gathered pace in the 1980s, when civilians fled north from civil wars in Central America. In some cases, after they were sent back home they were murdered by right-wing death squads.

Click here to read the rest.

As members of the Seattle recreational hockey team Trash Pandas prepared for their first game earlier this month, the subject of the National Hockey League came up. This was the first time all 16 players were in the same room, let alone competing together. But in the middle of pulling on their jerseys and reviewing league rules, they started debating what the name of Seattle’s new NHL team should be.

Some excitedly pushed for “The Kraken,” while others suggested that “The Totems” or “The Sockeyes” would be the best choice. It was a normal enough topic for a group of hockey players. But it was especially relevant for this group, given that some of the players had actually joined the coed league in response to the recent announcement that the National Hockey League would be coming to Seattle.

“The news of Seattle, my new home, getting an NHL team brought my love of hockey to a whole new level,” said Reiner Blanco, 42, who is from Manitoba, Canada. Although a longtime hockey fan, he said the announcement spurred him to start playing for the first time in his life.

After a year of planning and deliberating, the NHL Board of Governors officially voted in favor of the Seattle expansion franchise earlier this month, setting a start date of 2021. The decision is momentous for the city, which hasn’t had a professional hockey team in about a century, and for what appears to be a rapidly budding fan base. When NHL was testing the waters earlier this year, it managed to secure 10,000 season ticket deposits in just 12 minutes.

It is also big news for the area’s recreational and youth hockey industry.

Click here to read the full article.

*Photo by mark6mauno