Mother Takes Sanctuary On Upper West Side To Avoid Deportation

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A Guatemalan-born mother of two is taking physical sanctuary in an Upper West Side church in order to avoid deportation and being separated from her children.

Deborah Barrios-Vasquez, 32, has lived inside The Church of Saint Paul and Saint Andrew on West 86th Street and West End Avenue since May 14, she said Thursday. The mother was given until that day to leave the country after her deportation was ordered in February, she said.

Barrios-Vasquez had been doing check-ins with immigration officials after being pulled over by police in 2011 and said she was "heartbroken" when officials told her she would be deported. She has lived in the United States as an undocumented immigrant for 13 years.

"I could not even think about what it will do to my family, to my kids," Barrios-Vasquez said. "It will rip us apart."

The mother of two — a 10-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl both born in the United States — is now fighting to get her case in front of a judge and have her deportation overturned. In the meantime, Barrios-Vasquez lives in a single room at The Church of Saint Paul and Saint Andrew, unable to leave the building for fear of being detained.

Barrios-Vasquez worked as an administrative assistant and hopes to attend a university to be able to better provide for her family, she said Thursday.

With recent attention being paid to the separation of immigrant families at the United States' souther border, Barrios-Vasquez wants people to know that families are being split up by deportations in New York City and in cities around the country.

"I don't want to be another mother separated from her children," Barrios-Vasquez said through tears Thursday.

Living with Barrios-Vasquez at The Church of Saint Paul and Saint Andrew is her 10-year-old son Kener. Kener has to have other adults supervise him whenever he goes outside of the church. The boy asked Thursday that ICE think how they would feel if they were separated from their loved ones.

"I need my mom with me — she is a really big influence in my life," Kener said Thursday. "She helps me with my homework, she helps me with everything I have. I just can't image being away from her."

During her time in sanctuary, Barrios-Vasquez has been supported by the faith leaders at The Church of Saint Paul and Saint Andrew as well as other congregations and groups like the New Sanctuary Coalition. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Democratic candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon also spoke in support of Barrios-Vasquez on Thursday.

Brewer called Barrios-Vasquez a "real New Yorker" and Nixon called on the federal government to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Barrios-Vasquez is one of many immigrants currently taking sanctuary at churches in Manhattan. A family of four took sanctuaryat Washington Heights's Holyrood Church in August of 2017 and another mother of two took sanctuary at The Fourth Universalist Society church on the Upper West Side in March.

Photo by Brendan Krisel/Patch