MENTOR, Ohio - A Painesville woman, fearing that federal immigration agents would deport her following a traffic stop, and her two children have moved into a local church that offered sanctuary.

Rev. Lisa O'Rear, the rector of St. Andrew Episcopal Church on Little Mountain Road, said the woman, known only as Laura, and her two children are welcome to stay in the safety of the church for as long as she likes.

"It's the Christian thing to do," she said. "It's what Jesus would do."

Laura is the second Northeast Ohio person facing deportation to be granted sanctuary in a church. Leonor Garcia, 42, of Akron, has been living in the Forest Hill Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights since Sept. 12. She had been scheduled for deportation just days before she entered the church.

Laura, 36, was stopped two weeks ago for a traffic violation in Painesville and assigned a court date at Painesville Municipal Court Oct. 17. She feared that immigration officials would arrest her after the hearing.

She has been living in the United states for 15 years and is a single mother with one adult daughter and two younger sons living at home. She does not have proper documentation and she feared that Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be told of her status and that they would know that she was turned away from the United States border once before.

"There have been many of these people who tried to cross into the United States at border points and were simply told to go back to Mexico," said O'Rear, who has a law degree but no longer practices. "Even though they never really made it into the country, the attempt is being treated as a deportation."

People in this position are treated more harshly than others who are in the country without documentation. Several other people from Painesville who had a similar history were given expedited deportation and were put in federal detention and deported within days of their arrest by ICE.

Laura feared this would happen to her and worried about her two young children.

Painesville police did not notify ICE about the woman, following a new policy that says officers will not alert ICE to undocumented persons unless they are charged with crimes of violence, drunken driving or felony drug charges.

City Manager Monica Irelan said the police investigated the report and determined that the department did not alert ICE.

"Laura's fear was real," said O'Rear. "It's happened several times recently. I heard about her plight and talked it over with my vestry board. They unanimously agreed to offer her sanctuary. She moved in here with her two sons on Saturday and has been here ever since. We converted two Sunday School classrooms into living quarters for them."

O'Rear said the church had no choice.

"It is my obligation as a priest and a Christian to follow Christ's teachings, and this is exactly what he would do," she said. "We have made a commitment to her and we will walk the path alongside her until it is resolved, as long as it takes."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman Khaalid Walls said agents will not attempt to remove her from the church. He cited ICE policy that says agents will "avoid conducting enforcement activities in sensitive areas" that includes places of worship, schools and hospitals.

During his campaign, President Donald Trump said he would deport 11 million undocumented people from Mexico and Central America living in the United States.

O'Rear said the woman did not want to be interviewed until she consulted a lawyer.

"She has had a difficult life," O'Rear said. "She was married in Mexico when she was only 14 and decided to come to the United States when she was 20. I am not sure when the first incident occurred when she was turned back, but she arrived here about 15 years ago. She is no longer with her husband. She has an 11-year-old son, who was born in America, and a 17-year-old son who was born in Mexico. She has an adult daughter who is married and living elsewhere."

O'Rear, who has only been at St. Andrew since February, said she was surprised when she learned that no Latino residents were taking advantage of the church's food pantry.

"We provide food to about 1,000 needy residents," she said. "I was told that Latino or Hispanic people were not coming in because they were afraid they would be turned in for being undocumented. That would never happen. We are trying to get the word out to people that the church is a safe place."

She said the church wanted to do what it could to help people living in fear in the community.

"This is something we can do," she said. "It's something we will do."