Family Members Of Juana Ortega Petition Senator Tillis For Help

Family members of a woman who is taking sanctuary in a Greensboro church were at the office of Republican U.S. Senator Thom Tillis on Tuesday. They were there to deliver an in-person invitation to discuss the fate of Juana Luz Tobar Ortega.

Last month, after a quarter century living in America and raising a family here, Ortega received deportation orders. The St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Greensboro then offered her sanctuary status, which is rare in North Carolina.

Ortega's daughter, Leslie Molina, is thankful for the sanctuary, but she calls the move a “last option,” and says the current situation has been hard on her family.

She came to this country from Guatemala when she was ten years old, grew up in Randolph County, and graduated from East Randolph High School. Today, she is a dental assistant working in the Burlington area.

“It's very sad that when you go and see her, you know that you have to leave. She can't do any of the things she's used to. She can't work. She can't follow a normal lifestyle. So, that's heartbreaking for us as a family, just seeing that she's there, and she can't leave, and enjoy her grandchildren.”

Molina gathered with family and a dozen or so supporters near Senator Tillis' High Point office. She addressed those in attendance before leading the group across Eastchester Drive to his office. She hopes Tillis will agree to meet with her mother at a private church BBQ on July 4th.

“Talk to her. Get to know her,” she says. “See what our family is going through, and from that standpoint tell us, is this fair to our family? Do you think that we deserve this? Should our family be separated? That's really what we want. We want some answers.”  

Molina and her family delivered the invitation to congressional staffer Nicholas Wilkinson and they were offered a meeting in the High Point office to take place a half hour later. But when the time came, a police officer informed them that the staffer's offer had been rescinded.

“We're disappointed,” says Molina. “We were hoping to get some answers and see how they could help us, and now we're not getting anything.”