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PHILADELPHIA — Angela Navarro is one of the lucky ones. Picked by her North Philadelphia parish, she’ll take part in a multicultural choir performing for Pope Francis this weekend. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Navarro, an undocumented immigrant, who says she lived with the threat of deportation for a decade.
“Those were long, difficult years,” Navarro said. “It was a very dark time. Not just for me but for my whole family.”
When immigration officials were closing in last fall, Navarro says, she entered a North Philadelphia church to take refuge, taking advantage of a 2011 federal immigration policy that prevents raids of sensitive locations, like churches and schools.
She’s part of a controversial sanctuary movement that offers refuge to undocumented immigrants who have nowhere else to turn. Today, there are 40 congregations offering shelter in 15 states, according to representatives from Church World Service.
Navarro came to the United States when she was 16. As the last member of her immediate family still living in rural Honduras, she decided it was time to reunite with her parents, who were living legally in Philadelphia. In 2003 she traveled through Central America with the father of her children, but she was eventually picked up by agents at the U.S.-Mexico border.
While officials processed her deportation, she was allowed to stay with her parents in Philadelphia. But with her first child on the way, she says it was too dangerous to return to the violence and poverty of her native Honduras. Instead, she chose to live a life in the shadows, moving constantly to stay under the radar of immigration officials.
Last fall, the Rev. John Olenick, a local priest, helped Navarro find a church where she could take sanctuary. He says that her story should be a lesson to the faithful.
“A lot of the people … come here to flee from really bad situations,” he said. “They come here and they are looking for support. They are looking for a better life for themselves and for their children.”
Immigration activists see a kindred spirit in Francis, who has urged European parishes to take in refugees fleeing conflict in their home countries.
the Rev. John Olenick
But not all Catholics support the sanctuary movement’s philosophy. Michael Hichborn, director of the Lepanto Institute, a catholic watchdog organization, says that there’s a distinction to be made between migrants coming here for economic opportunity and refugees fleeing conflict zones.
“We should look to help them as best we can, but … there has to be a process,” Hichborn said. “We can't just open the doors to the church and say, ‘Anybody come in.’”
While more than half of all Hispanics in the U.S. still identify as Catholic, the numbers have dropped sharply over the last decade. Now, many are eager to hear the first Latin American pope speak up for them — and against the rhetoric of anti-immigrant politicians.
Navarro is one of them. Earlier this year, she and her supporters declared victory when immigration officials issued a two-year reprieve on her deportation. After 58 days in sanctuary, she was finally free to leave the church and to start a new chapter in her life. But she’s still part of the immigration debate.
Navarro is keeping her prayers with God and the pope, hoping he will encourage American parishes to do more to protect migrants. In the meantime, she has her own message for anti-immigration critics, like Donald Trump.
“Honestly, as a human being … I want to yell at him. But as a Christian, I want him to learn the love of God. Then he wouldn't think this way.” Navarro said. “He's not God. He doesn’t have the right to treat us like this.”
Angela Navarro is the eighth person this year who has attempted to avoid deportation by taking refuge in a church
At the Berks County Family Center in Pennsylvania, some undocumented families have been detained for more than a year
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