Nury Chavarria, a housekeeper who went into sanctuary in a Connecticut church a week ago, has been granted an emergency order protecting her from deportation by a federal judge. Chavarria, an undocumented immigrant mother with no criminal record, emerged from a New Haven church yesterday with her 9-year-old daughter, who had also gone into sanctuary with her. Both will get to return home for now, with the court’s stay “[remaining] in effect until the judge issues a final decision on her [asylum] application,” according to CNN. Chavarria’s advocates, including local community leaders, faith leaders, state, and federal officials, cheered the development and expressed hope that she will get to stay in the U.S., her home of 25 years:
"When [Nury] got the news, all I could do was hug her and cry with her," Pastor Dianette Otero said. "With the power of prayer and the entire community we were able to get this done and now Nury can go home to her kids."
Connecticut officials praised the decision to reopen Chavarria's case.
"There was never a rational justification for Nury Chavarria to have been threatened with deportation and separated from her children, and I applaud this decision by ICE and the court to allow her to continue living and working in the United States with her family,'' Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said. "Immigrants are vital to the fabric of our nation. Rather than focusing on those living peacefully within our borders, our attention should be on those who do harm to others."
And, there’s no other better description of what Nury Chavarria brings to America than Gov. Malloy’s words. The single mom of four U.S. citizens, including a son with cerebral palsy, has worked hard as a housekeeper for years and tried to follow ICE’s rules by checking in regularly. When she was told during her last meeting to buy a one-way ticket and prepare for deportation, the New Haven community ran to her side. “I am very emotional, grateful to God,” Chavarria told a crowd of hundreds who had gathered at the church for what was initially going to be a silent march. “Now I can cry, but not as I did on the 20th [the day she went into the church] when I was shedding tears because I had to leave. God has been my attorney.”
According an NBC report, perhaps a dozen other undocumented immigrants facing immediate deportation are currently in churches across the United States, marking a resurgence in the sanctuary movement since Donald Trump’s election. In fact, since his inauguration, the number of houses of worship engaging in “holy resistance” has doubled to 800:
Juana Ortega, an undocumented grandmother from Guatemala, took sanctuary at a church in Greensboro, North Carolina, in May. She came to the United States in 1993, seeking asylum, and when her attempts failed got repeated stays on her removal order, according to CNN. At her first check-in with ICE under Trump’s administration she was told she had until the end of May to leave. Ortega is married to an American citizen; her youngest child is a teen-ager, CNN reported.
Minerva Garcia is a mother from Mexico who has worked temporary jobs, has no criminal record and has paid taxes for 17 years, according to the Winston-Salem Journal. She also sought refuge at a church in Greensboro, North Carolina, when she was facing deportation at the end of June. Garcia came to the United States looking for better care for her oldest son, who is blind and who was 5 at the time.
Most recently, Jeanette Vizguerra, another undocumented mom with no criminal record, won a two-year stay of deportation after spending nearly 90 days in a Denver church. While she was in sanctuary, Vizguerra was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people in the world for becoming a national face of the 21st-century sanctuary movement, one that stands to have an important role in keeping families together during Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown.
Because of ICE guidelines, churches are considered “sensitive locations” that are generally off-limits to federal immigration agents. But that doesn’t mean that they are 100 percent safe, because they can be raided by federal agents under “exigent circumstances” from ICE superiors, according to their policy. But with that decision will come the optics of the United States federal government raiding a house of worship in order to arrest a mother in hiding.
“I’m glad ICE finally listened to our calls for justice for Nury, and I’m grateful for all the community support she received,” said Sen. Chris Murphy about her release. “But this is just a temporary victory, and only when President Trump’s mean-spirited policy of tearing apart parents from their young children ends will meaningful justice be achieved.”