Arizona church gives sanctuary to migrant facing deportation

A Presbyterian church in Arizona has given sanctuary to an undocumented migrant facing deportation, triggering a stand-off with immigration authorities.

Officials at the Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson hosted Daniel Noyoy Ruiz for a fourth consecutive day on Friday, and said he could remain indefinitely despite the fact he was due to be deported to Mexico earlier this week.

Ruiz, 36, a building maintenance supervisor, entered the church on Wednesday afternoon with his wife and son, a few hours before the deportation deadline, in the hope that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) would not follow.

“We are well, we are comfortable,” he told the Guardian on Friday. “We are grateful for the support of the church and so many people. I will stay here as long as it takes to get a favourable ruling.”

Ice said in a statement that a court-issued removal order remained in place but that it had no immediate plan to enforce it: “After conducting a thorough review of Mr Ruiz’s immigration case, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has decided to exercise prosecutorial discretion by not taking immediate action on Mr Ruiz’s removal order.”

Ruiz, in other words, was safe inside the church for now but his fate would be unclear if he stepped outside.

His lawyer, Margo Cowan, welcomed Ice's statement but said she had received nothing in writing from the agency and urged it to grant her application for a stay order.

“And if [they] are not inclined to do that then I want something in writing that he can carry with him on his person so that if he's stopped and asked for his status he can show that document to whomever is asking,” she said.

“We need to have something that will protect him when he walks out of this church. This is Arizona. This is the land of 1070.”

A state senate bill known as 1070 has become synonymous with Arizona's controversial crackdowns on undocumented people.

In recent months activists have stepped up a campaign against deportations which has included public rallies, border crossings and hunger strikes. Some have branded President Barack Obama the “deporter-in-chief”, for the 2 million people banished during his administration.

Pending immigration reform blocked by House Republicans, the president has urged federal authorities to enforce existing laws humanely and target only criminals for deportation.

And at an event on Friday to mark the 60th anniversary of the Brown vs Board of Education school ruling that struck down school segregation, attorney general Eric Holder renewed calls for the passage of immigration reform.

“By fighting for comprehensive immigration reform – that includes an earned path to citizenship, so that men and women who are Americans in everything but name can step out of the shadows and take their place in society – we’ll make certain that children who have always called America home can build bright futures in, and enrich, the country they love, without fear,” Holder said.

Ruiz, originally from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, illegally entered the US with his wife Karla 14 years ago. They built a life in Tuscon and their son Carlos, 13, was born in the country and is a US citizen.

Ruiz has no criminal record, said Cowan. Police stopped him for a faulty exhaust while driving in 2011 and his case was passed to Ice.

“Daniel has paid taxes for the past 10 years,” Cowan said. “He attends church, sings in the choir. He's squeaky clean. I could run my hand down his back and he would squeak.”

Sarah Launius, a Tuscon-based activist with the immigrant rights group No More Deaths, said Ruiz was the sort of undocumented individual who was not supposed to be targeted for deportation.

“The fact that he was shows the huge cracks in the system,” she said.

The Southside Presbyterian church was part of a sanctuary movement in the 1980s. It is headed by a female pastor, the Reverend Alison Harrington, who earned a degree in peace and conflict studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

A Mexican-born undocumented migrant named Elvira Arallano made headlines in 2006 after finding refuge in a Chicago church. She was deported the following year, after leaving the church. She returned to the US in March – again without documents – and is on parole while an immigration judge considers her case.