A North Carolina church this week offered sanctuary to an undocumented grandmother facing imminent deportation, after ICE refused to grant her a stay of removal. Juana Luz Tobar Ortega, a mom of four, grandmother of two, and wife of a U.S. citizen, has lived in the U.S. since fleeing violence in Guatemala nearly 25 years ago, near the end of the nation’s decades-long civil war. ”The church, hearing of her plight two weeks ago, voted to offer her shelter instead of seeing her separated from her family,” notes the News and Record. Local advocates say “this is the first time in several years that someone has been offered sanctuary in North Carolina”:
“There’s absolutely no reason for this woman to be torn away from her family and her community. She’s a child of God and we will give her shelter until ICE drops her deportation order,” said St. Barnabas Rev. Randall Keeney in a statement.
According to the News and Record, Ortega said she "hope[d] to return to my home soon. To be with my family.” During the “emotional press conference” featuring her family, community advocates, and faith leaders from St. Barnabas, her grandchildren held signs reading, “Don’t deport my grandma.”
St. Barnabas is just one of the hundreds of houses of worship nationwide that have pledged “holy resistance” to Donald Trump’s deportation force.
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