Oak Park is a sanctuary city.
This we know.
Earlier this year, the village board voted it so.
According to the sanctuary ordinance, Oak Park officials are forbidden from collaborating with federal immigration officials to identify and apprehend undocumented Oak Park residents without a court-ordered criminal warrant.
So, now what?
Wait and see when or if the Trump administration brings down the wrath of the United States government on Oak Park and other sanctuary cities as promised.
Though that promise — like many others — may be broken. Does the president really want to go to war with his own people over this issue?
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We’ll find out.
Meanwhile, Oak Park provides sanctuary.
And sanctuary comes in many forms because people other than undocumented aliens need help, need relief, need sanctuary.
And Oak Park provides help. The Oak Park-River Forest Food Pantry is just one example.
The Oak Park Public Library provides sanctuary, too, though you might not first think of it as a place of sanctuary.
A visit to the main library is heartening. Families with small children, students, retirees all mingling, reading, studying.
Amid these folks are the homeless, who come to the library to read, to rest, to get warm or cool.
They don’t bother other patrons. And more significantly, library officials don’t bother or try to roust the homeless.
Unlike so many other communities, Oak Parkers recognize the common humanity of all people, those with homes, those without.
I like to think the spirit that animates the sanctuary movement is in action in many other facets of life in Oak Park.
That’s cause to celebrate.
What isn’t is the terrible fact that throughout this country, 1.56 million people know what it’s like to be homeless.
If the federal government wants something to do instead of punishing sanctuary cities, it might try alleviating homelessness.
Paul Sassone is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.