Church provides shelter to family

An Oxnard woman has moved to a small Simi Valley church with her 5-month-old son as part of a sanctuary movement that protects illegal immigrants from being separated from their families.

The woman, who was told in May she was about to be deported, moved from an Episcopal church in Long Beach to a home that is owned by the United Church of Christ in Simi Valley and was once used as a parsonage. She arrived last week but will be officially welcomed at an interfaith blessing service at 10 a.m. today.

Liliana, who won't reveal her last name for fear of repercussions to her family, is one of four illegal immigrants in a swath of Southern California living in faith communities through the national New Sanctuary Movement. The 80-member Simi Valley congregation is the first in Ventura County to open its doors, though other faith communities will provide financial and spiritual support.

Church pastor June Goudey said the United Church of Christ has a long history of fighting for civil rights issues ranging from gay rights to racial equality. She said the Simi congregation is motivated not by politics but faith.

"We believe God calls us to care for the stranger," she said.

Simi Valley Mayor Paul Miller said he called the church to advise against what he called harboring illegal immigrants but was told the church feels duty-bound. He said the city's police department would help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in deportation efforts if asked.

"If the federal government knows the whereabouts of a person who's entered this country illegally, their job is to arrest and deport them," he said. "I sympathize with the human aspect of this but if the human being is in this country illegally, they are breaking the law."

'We are in a struggle'

Earlier this month, ICE agents arrested and deported Elvira Arellano, who left her yearlong refuge at a Chicago church to attend an immigration rally in Los Angeles. But federal officials won't comment on whether agents will enter a church to make an arrest, answering all questions with a written statement.

"ICE prioritizes enforcement efforts to best protect national security and promote the public safety of communities throughout the country," the statement reads. "We carry out enforcement actions at appropriate times and places."

New Sanctuary Movement leaders have said they're not harboring immigrants or breaking any laws, noting ICE officials know the names of the people who are in sanctuary. But they hope the movement provides enough protection that lawyers can work with people like Liliana and find a way to stop deportation proceedings.

"We are in a struggle," Liliana said through an interpreter in an interview on church property Monday. "We don't know what's going to happen."

She's 29 years old, was born in the state of Michoacan and was caught trying to cross the border from Tijuana to San Diego about nine years ago. She said she earlier applied for a student visa but was turned down.

After being caught, she crossed the border in a different place and came to Oxnard. Her husband, who works two jobs and is a homeowner, is a U.S. citizen and so are their three young children.

Liliana said four armed officers showed up at her door about 6:15 on a May morning. They came to arrest her but gave her a few extra days because they were told there was no one else to care for the children.

Protesters would demonstrate

She worried deportation would tear her away and mean never being able to return. She went to the Ventura County Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, which was organizing a local sanctuary movement, asked for shelter and found it at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Long Beach.

She was there for three months, never leaving the sanctuary, working on her English and seeing her family whenever they could make the trip.

Occasionally, protesters would demonstrate outside the church.

"It's not easy," she said, "but I prefer it to having thousands of miles between me and my kids."

She said her family is why she's agreed to be in the sanctuary movement's spotlight and why she welcomes the move to Simi Valley. She'll be able to see them more.

But her cause is bigger than she is. She said she represents all the people who live in fear of being separated from their spouses and children. She sees her story as a way to help people understand why immigration reform is needed.

"Destiny put me here," she said.

— Staff writer Anna Bakalis contributed to this report.