Juana Tobar Ortega in sanctuary at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Facing deportation after more than two decades here, undocumented mom Juana Luz Tobar Ortega went into sanctuary at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. Nearly two years later, she’s still there. “To keep busy, Ortega uses her sewing machine to make aprons and pillows she can sell to the community,” NBC News reports. “She’s also started a catering business from the church’s kitchen,” where she makes tamales to sell.

But she misses her kids and her life. Her daughter Jackeline said their kitchen at home was always bustling with vegetable-rich dishes. “But after the first week, the vegetables were still sitting there, rotting.” The 23-year-old college student now visits her mom every week, and during weekends will sometimes take a study group there “so her Mom can be a part of her life.” Having exhausted legal options and more than $20,000 on immigration attorneys, the family has no other options.

Ortega went into sanctuary in May 2017, facing an order from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to either leave on her own or face arrest. Hearing of her story, St. Barnabas opened its doors to her. “There’s absolutely no reason for this woman to be torn away from her family and her community,” Rev. Randall Keeney said at the time. “She’s a child of God and we will give her shelter until ICE drops her deportation order.”

There are currently dozens of undocumented immigrants taking sanctuary in more than a dozen states across the nation. There could be even more, but out of safety, some have not gone public with their stories. ICE policy dictates that churches are generally off-limits to arrests, but the mom’s protectors aren’t taking any chances: Keeney “said the church has tightened security to protect Ortega. Trained volunteers now answer the door, in case an ICE officer is looking for her.”

For now, the family continues to wait, hoping ongoing pressure on ICE results in some relief. It’s worked before. Advocates hope it’ll work again so that she won’t have to spend another Christmas, birthday, or graduation away from her children. “It’s not easy when all of a sudden you’re told you have to leave your country, your kids,” Ortega told The Charlotte Observer last year. “I feel like this is my country because I’ve lived here for so many years.”