Rosa del Carmen Ortez-Cruz is a mother of four who fled Honduras in 2002 after she said her partner attempted to kill her. After settling in Greensboro, she is now taking sanctuary at a Chapel Hill church after federal immigration officials have targeted her for deportation back to Honduras.

Ortez-Cruz accepted a sanctuary offer from the Church of Reconciliation in Chapel Hill, which shares space on Elliot Road with the Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship.

She told a crowd gathered at the church on Tuesday that she had to spend more than a month in the hospital recovering from stab wounds sustained in the domestic attack in Honduras. She was emotional during Tuesday’s gathering and spoke of her desire to provide a better future for her children.

“I have four kids,” she said through a translator, “and I want to give them a future without fear.”

Her children range in age from seven to 19 and three of the four are United States citizens.

Signs supporting Rosa del Carmen Ortez-Cruz. Photo via Blake Hodge.

The sanctuary announcement comes after several Orange County residents were detained by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week. The ICE raids have caused panic and fear in the local immigrant community. A recent statement from ICE said that approximately 40 individuals had been detained across North Carolina during recent sweeps.

An organizer from the American Friends Services Committee called on more community action to protect immigrants.

“Today, it doesn’t matter how long a person has been in the country, how deep their roots are in our communities or what brought them here in the first place,” she said. “The deportation machine led by ICE does not care how many families are ripped apart by their actions.

“But we do, and we will not let this happen on our watch.”

While this is the first documented instance of a Chapel Hill church offering sanctuary to an individual facing deportation, organizers cited five other cases across North Carolina. Church of Reconciliation pastor Reverend Mark Davidson said the church declared itself as a sanctuary church in October 2017.

“To be honest, our physical space was not ideally set up for sanctuary,” he said. “But we turned an office into a living space and converted a janitor’s closet into a shower.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Signs supporting Rosa del Carmen Ortez-Cruz. Photo via Blake Hodge.

Davidson announced Tuesday that 10 Chapel Hill congregations and approximately 100 volunteers have come forward to help. Jennifer Copeland, with the North Carolina Council of Churches, said they were hoping to spread this effort across North Carolina.

“The North Carolina Council of Churches is working intentionally to foster hospitality for immigrants and, when necessary, protection for those who have been wrongly called ‘dangerous’ by those who are actually dangerous because of their disregard for human rights, constitutional rights and due process.”

Tuesday’s event concluded with organizers reading a letter from another sanctuary recipient who has developed a friendship with Ortez-Cruz.

“Be strong,” the letter told Ortez-Crus, “and fight to stay in this country that is also our country.”

Ortez-Cruz is currently awaiting appeal of her deportation ruling.