NEW HAVEN — For five years, Nelson Pinos, my father, went to regular “check-ins” with immigration officials. Each time, the officials approved his requests to stay in this country. But last October, everything changed. “They want me to leave by November 30,” he told me. “They want me to show them a one-way plane ticket to Ecuador.”

I couldn’t believe it. My father, who came here more than two decades ago and is undocumented, has no criminal record, has always paid his taxes and has three children who are American citizens — me, my 13-year-old sister and my 5-year-old brother. Two weeks later, I watched as an officer snapped a monitor onto my father’s right ankle. When we got home, we wept in each other’s arms.

Going to Ecuador would be devastating for our family. My siblings and I were born in New Haven and our entire life is here. We’re a close family doing exactly what most other American families do: working and studying hard, having fun. My little brother and sister hardly know how to speak Spanish. In two years I’ll be able to go to college, and my father didn’t want to ruin all that by taking us back to Ecuador.

But neither did he want to leave us and our mother in Connecticut. So on Nov. 30, the day of his scheduled deportation, we drove to the First and Summerfield United Methodist Church in downtown New Haven and my father claimed sanctuary. He still has his ankle bracelet, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement knows exactly where he is. But so long as he does not step outside, he is safe.