Undocumented immigrants taking drastic measures to stay in the US

Rosa Robles Loreto hasn't left a Tucson, Arizona, church for a year. But it's not her love of the lord that keeps her there, but the fear that should she stray, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials will pounce and deport her to Mexico. Robles Loreto first entered Southside Presbyterian Church in August of 2014, hoping she'd be protected from law enforcement as ICE rules prohibit arrest at religious sites unless the person is deemed dangerous. Yet while some migrants have been granted stays of their deportation by using the so-called sanctuary movement, in Robles Loreto's cause, ICE has dug in its heels and no one is quite sure why. The idea of seeking sanctuary in sanctuaries first came about in the 1980s, when thousands of Central American migrants took shelter in churches until deals were reached to allow them to stay in the United States. Al Jazeera America's Jennifer London first profiled the movement's resurgence last October, examining the case of Francisco Perez Cordova who had taken up residence in another Tucson church. Perez Cordova has since won his immigration case and returned home with his family. In this new story for Al Jazeera's Desperate Journeys series, we revisit Perez Cordova and introduce viewers to Robles Loreto. You'll also meet Tucson attorney Margo Cowan who is credited with the reprise of the sanctuary movement. In this report she explains how the method used to ‘work like a charm,’ but has become a less sure-fire way for migrants to avoid deportation. In both cases the migrants have already made the most physical steps in their desperate journeys for a better life, only to discover the emotional strife and red tape between where they are and where they hope to be is far more strenuous.