Biden deportation moratorium blocked. What does it mean for NC immigrants in sanctuary?
When President Joe Biden put a 100-day hold on most deportations after taking office last month, Juana Luz Tobar Ortega and Eliseo Jiménez, unauthorized immigrants in sanctuary in North Carolina, got their hopes up.
But a federal judge swiftly blocked the moratorium just days after it was issued, first for 14 days then until Feb. 23.
Now, both immigrants don’t know when they might safely leave the churches where they have been living to avoid deportation orders the past three years.
José Chicas, a fellow immigrant in sanctuary in North Carolina for nearly the same length of time, did leave the small Durham house on church property that he’d taken shelter in, once Biden’s order briefly took effect Jan. 22.
But even as Chicas chose to finally go home, Tobar Ortega and Jiménez said their lawyers advised them the new president’s moratorium wasn’t enough to guarantee their safe departure. The temporary block by the courts confirmed their worries.
“I felt very happy to see (Chicas) leave,” Tobar Ortega, 49, told The News & Observer in Spanish. “Eliseo and I know how it feels to be shut inside a church. So when I heard the news, I was excited. But what stopped me was that all the details weren’t known and the lawyers weren’t sure if we would still be arrested or not (if we left sanctuary). ... We’re stuck in the same situation.”
The moratorium affects mostly Latino individuals in the final stages of their immigration cases who face an order of removal, Kate Evans, a Duke University law professor and director of the school’s Immigrant Rights Clinic, told The N&O.
Evans expects strong challenges to the Texas judge’s ruling, but said the injunction does make people facing orders of removal more vulnerable as the case works its way through the courts.
Other Biden administration changes, however, remain that could help those in sanctuary and others stay in the country or not face prosecution. One shifts immigration enforcement toward people who committed felonies or have engaged in terrorism.
Chicas, Tobar Ortega and Jiménez were among a small movement in North Carolina and across the nation sheltered by religious groups as the Trump administration made it harder for people to get deportation delays and work permits.
For most of 2018, Jiménez and Tobar Ortega were two of six such immigrants in North Carolina. Some, like Rosa Ortez-Cruz in Chapel Hill, got their removal orders canceled, while others like Samuel Oliver-Bruno were arrested upon leaving sanctuary and deported.
‘This nightmare that we’re living’
A mother and grandmother from Asheboro, Tobar Ortega has lived in the United States for decades after fleeing violence in Guatemala and has been staying at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Greensboro. She received an order of removal after re-entering the United States with a false visa a decade ago.
Jiménez, a Mexican immigrant from Greensboro, took refuge in Umstead Park United Church of Christ in Raleigh to fight a removal order stemming from reentering the country illegally after being deported in 2007. He worked in construction as the provider for his wife and children, who are U.S. citizens.
“We’re asking for clarity from the president if we are going to continue in the same situation, if he will let us go or if he will give us some kind of legal status so that we can get out of this nightmare that we’re living,” Tobar Ortega said.
Risks despite new enforcement priorities
Tobar Ortega said if she were to leave sanctuary, there is no guarantee that Immigration and Customs Enforcement wouldn’t find and detain her.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security memorandum that introduced Biden’s deportation pause, ICE can still arrest and detain individuals despite not being able to deport them.
“Nothing in this memorandum prohibits the apprehension or detention of individuals unlawfully in the United States who are not identified as priorities herein,” acting DHS Secretary David Pekoske said in the memo.
The memo also outlined new enforcement priorities centered on those who threaten national security, border security or public safety.
It narrows the federal government’s focus from an early Trump administration executive order that made any violator of immigration laws a priority, Evans said.
“That means the person who has been here for two decades and raised a family is not in the crosshairs in the same way that they were previously,” she said.
Evans recommends that immigrants with deportation orders request a stay that could be considered under the Biden administration’s new priorities.
Family of José Chicas ‘depending on God’
For his part, Chicas, the Salvadoran immigrant from Raleigh, isn’t planning yet on returning to sanctuary.
“We’re clearly feeling wary about the situation, and we’re depending on God,” his wife, Sandra Marquina, said in an interview.
U.S. Rep. David Price, a Democrat from Chapel Hill, has previously pledged to advocate for immigrants like Chicas.
“Overhauling our immigration system will help create stability, protect immigrants, boost our economy, and guide our policies for years to come,” Price said in an email to The N&O.
He believes conditions for mothers and fathers in sanctuary will improve as the Biden administration advances its policies.
“I’m not going to lie to you, we’ve been celebrating since he has been home,” said Marquina. “We’re being cautious, but we’re not preparing for him to return [to sanctuary] tomorrow, either.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 5:45 AM with the headline "Biden deportation moratorium blocked. What does it mean for NC immigrants in sanctuary?."
