This summer, the Southside Presbyterian Church in Tuscon, Arizona has taken in two undocumented immigrants facing deportation.

The most recent immigrant is Rosa Imelda Robles Loreto, Fox News Latino reports. After a routine traffic stop, the 41-year-old mother of two received a notice that she had to return to her home country of Mexico by Aug. 8.

In order to avoid deportation Robles Loreto, her husband and her sons moved to the Southside Presbyterian Church. Robles Loreto's family members go outside the church daily, but she does not.

"I will fight to stay here, no matter how long," she said. "I will fight to keep my family together."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement denied Robles Loreto's request to stay in the U.S.

"[I want to] get out of the shadow, breathe a new air, because I say the air here is different than the air in my house," she said. "... Mexico is a beautiful country, but there are a lot of drugs and a lot of violence. There is so much corruption in the country. I have more confidence in the government of the United States than in Mexico."

Southside Presbyterian Church "is known as the birthplace of the sanctuary movement of the 1980s," according to FNL, starting a movement of churches taking in undocumented immigrants fearing deportation.

Bob Dane, a spokesperson for Federation for American Immigration Reform, however, believes that the church is breaking the law because it is "aiding and abetting" the undocumented.

"This is just an extension of a non-enforcement policy that prevails," he explained. "There's compassion on one hand, but there's impact on the other. The church is not above the law."

The church also took in Daniel Neyoy Ruiz. The 36-year-old was also detained at a traffic stop and saw his request for stay denied.

"They are facing a final order of deportation, and they come to us asking if we would surround them with our love to keep their family together ... those with families are generally considered lower priority by ICE officials, and those are the people we strive to help stay in this country," the church's Rev. Alison Harrington said. " ... We think by elevating their voices and their stories that we will remind people in power of the importance of keeping families together."

On Aug. 21, the church's Facebook page posted a petition asking the Obama administration to stop her deportation. The ICE is not looking to arrest Robles Loreto, but any encounter with law enforcement could result in her being sent to Border Patrol.

"... ICE has decided to exercise prosecutorial discretion by not taking immediate action on [her] removal order," the agency said in a statement.

Neyoy Ruiz received a one-year stay and work permit after staying in the church for a month.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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