A New York City church that has offered to protect undocumented immigrants from Donald Trump’s deportation force was defaced with swastikas earlier this month:
Dozens of people gathered at their Upper West Side church Friday night in a show of force against hateful symbols carved into their doors.
Community members, leaders and church parishioners gathered for the standing room-only service at the Fourth Universalist Society, where swastikas were carved into the church's recently refurbished doors.
Church members noticed the symbols last week, along with the words "race office," which, according to senior minister Schuyler Vogel, "we came to learn was a direct reference to a series of offices in Nazi Germany that enforced racial purity."
One of Trump’s most recent actions is to propose a “VOICE” office—another Nazi-inspired move—which he claims will help keep Americans safe but will actually demonize the entire undocumented population and further foment hateful acts, like what happened at Fourth Universalist Society and other places of worship.
In Chicago, another sanctuary church with a significantly Latino congregation has been vandalized at least five times in the past 10 months. Some of the vandalism has also included swastikas, as well as “Rape N Kill “Mexico.” The church has now been forced to hire a security guard and will soon install security cameras.
Despite the cowardly act from vandals, Pastor Vogel wants undocumented neighbors to know that the church will not give in to fear. "We want them to know that we're not intimidated, that we stand strong on the side of justice and love,” he said.