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Buffalo churches offer shelter for undocumented workers after ICE raids

Posted at 6:59 PM, Oct 23, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-23 23:30:30-04

Several churches in Buffalo are offering shelter and support to the undocumented workers at the center of last week's raids on four local Mexican restaurants.

Investigators said the workers were living in apartments and homes paid for by the restaurants' owner and a manager.

"The 25 workers that were detained--their lives have been turned upside down," said Drew Ludwig, a pastor at Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church.

"Families are at risk of being separated.  These are people that were in a place of relative security, that now have no idea what might happen to them," he said.

Matt Lincoln is the director of Trinity Church and has helped find shelter for the undocumented workers.

"That's what the church does," he said.  "When somebody is hungry we feed them.  When somebody's lost their housing we provide shelter."

"They're not strangers who don't matter to our community," Lincoln said.  "They're part of our community."

Ludwig said several other churches in Buffalo have also opened their doors to the families and workers impacted by the raids.

The undocumented workers have a hearing on Tuesday that could determine what happens next.