Immigrant mom avoids deportation by staying in Philadelphia church

Angela Navarro, from Honduras, is one of about a dozen US immigrants who have recently taken shelter in churches, where authorities generally won't pursue enforcement actions. 

|
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
In this Monday, Dec. 8, 2014 photo, Angela Navarro who has been living in the U.S. with her American-born children despite a deportation order issued 10 years ago sits at the West Kensington Ministry church in Philadelphia. Navarro took sanctuary with her children and husband, a U.S. citizen, in the Philadelphia church to help her avoid being deported to her native Honduras.

Nine-year-old Mariana Mendoza had to give up her pink bedroom and bike when her family moved from a two-story rowhouse into a cramped church annex last month.

But that's OK with her — as long as her mom is safe.

"Because if she didn't move, maybe they could deport her," Mariana said.

Her mother, Honduran immigrant Angela Navarro, has lived in fear of being sent back to her native country for 10 years. Tired of running scared, Navarro sought sanctuary at a Philadelphia house of worship while she and her supporters work to gain legal status for her.

"The hardest part has been leaving my life behind — leaving my house, my job, the inability to do normal family things, like going out for a walk or going shopping," Navarro, 28, said through an interpreter.

Navarro is one of about a dozen U.S. immigrants who have recently taken shelter in churches, where authorities generally won't pursue enforcement actions. The cases are unfolding as President Barack Obama seeks to curb deportations starting next year, an effort many Republicans oppose.

Immigration officials issued Navarro's final deportation order when she was 17. She had been picked up in 2003 while illegally trying to enter the United States to join her parents, who had received permission to live in the U.S. after Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras.

Navarro defied the order and began living in the shadows to stay with her family and then-newborn son. Yet the stress eventually became too much, and on Nov. 18 she moved with her two children and husband, all U.S. citizens, into a renovated multipurpose room at West Kensington Ministry.

The church, led by Adan Mairena, belongs to the nationwide Sanctuary 2014 coalition of about two dozen congregations willing to protect immigrants in danger of being deported.

"It's a way for us to act out our faith," Mairena said.

Since last summer, three immigrants in sanctuary have won government reprieves and two have left their churches because they felt safe, coalition spokesman Sidney Traynham said. Four besides Navarro remain in refuge in churches in Denver, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona.

Attorney Patricia Camuzzi Luber recently filed paperwork asking officials to suspend Navarro's deportation order and review her case in light of her marriage and Obama's executive actions, which could grant legal status to those who arrived in the U.S. as minors or who have American children.

Because Navarro's case remains unsettled, she stayed at the church last week while supporters rallied outside Philadelphia's office for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Her mother made a tearful plea, and Mariana presented officials with a stack of petitions supporting her mom's request to stay, including a letter from U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, a Democrat who represents part of the city.

ICE officials wouldn't meet with the group but released a statement saying their agency "remains focused on smart and effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes the removal of convicted criminals and recent border entrants." Navarro doesn't fall under either category.

Navarro's children continue to attend school, and her husband still works as a truck driver, but Navarro won't leave the West Kensington property as she continues to organize her campaign with the help of the local New Sanctuary Movement.

Posters outlining her to-do list cover the doors to her makeshift bedroom, which looks more like a glorified closet. A portable wall in the main area separates the kids' sleeping area from the crowded living room. Meals are prepared in the church's kitchen, where food and appliances are tagged with notes labeled "Angela's stuff." Volunteers built a full bathroom before the family moved in.

Mariana and her older brother Arturo, 11, aren't thrilled about sharing a room, but she sees the bright side. At their old house, Mariana saw her mom only in the morning because she worked late hours as a restaurant cook.

"I'm happy here," Mariana said. "Now, every day I can always see her."

___

Follow Kathy Matheson at http://www.twitter.com/kmatheson

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Immigrant mom avoids deportation by staying in Philadelphia church
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/1223/Immigrant-mom-avoids-deportation-by-staying-in-Philadelphia-church
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe