DC's faith communities rally to protect bused-in immigrants

The day in April that the first busload of migrants arrived in Washington, DC, happened to be Holy Thursday, the day on the Christian calendar that remembers Jesus washing the feet of his disciples the evening before his death. 

The gospel story is about service, Sharon Stanley-Rea explained. Stanley-Rea, a Disciples of Christ minister and then-director of the denomination’s Refugee and Immigration Ministries, showed up at a news conference with a basin of water and a towel after that first bus arrived—symbols, she said, of the spirit of welcome she felt the faith community in the nation’s capital was being called to emulate.

Since then, thousands of migrants have been bused to the city, many without having been told where they were going, others told before boarding that after a stop in Washington they would be able to go on to other destinations where they had family members or loved ones. New York, Chicago, and most recently Philadelphia began receiving migrants not long after.