“Those foreigners among us, as the prophet Ezekiel said, are to be regarded as citizens,” he said.

Any church in America can declare itself a "sanctuary church" for people who have entered the country illegally, but that declaration provides no legal protection from arrests or deportation.

From a public relations standpoint, though, a sanctuary church can provide at least temporary protection, according to one of Buffalo's top immigration attorneys.

Federal agents have been reluctant to go into churches, hospitals, schools or other "sensitive locations" to arrest undocumented immigrants, said Matthew L. Kolken, a Buffalo immigration lawyer who has represented immigrants over the past 20 years.

"From a legal standpoint, calling yourself a sanctuary church has no effect under the law," Kolken told The Buffalo News. "But it does have a practical effect. No federal agent wants to have a picture of himself dragging people out of a church plastered all over newspapers all over America...That's a public relations nightmare."