SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A long-standing parish in Logan Heights has joined a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to rescind a policy that once protected certain places — like churches, schools and hospitals — from immigration enforcement.
'We Belong' are the first words you see in both English and in Spanish as you walk up to Our Lady of Guadalupe parish.
Walk a little further, you'll see miniature flags of every country dangling above the outdoor communal space.
“We’ve got all these flags, even here, to say that we really are welcoming people of all shapes, sizes, from all countries, all ethnicities," said Rev. Scott Santarosa.
Santarosa said the original church was built in 1917. He's been there for close to three years now and considers his parish to be a Spanish-speaking, immigrant community.
"I think this is the place where people come in San Diego if they're looking for the Mexican-Catholic experience," Santarosa said.
That feeling of home was put on hold the first Sunday after President Donald Trump's inauguration.
“Sundays is when we have food sales," Santarosa said. "Volunteers come to prepare that food. That weekend, no volunteers came because they were afraid of, you know, being arrested and deported.”
Santarosa added, "Since that time, however, I would say that people, knowing it's a risk, have made the decision to still come to Mass because they feel like they need to come to Mass.”
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In January, the Trump administration removed protections for certain areas deemed "sensitive locations" that were previously safe from immigration enforcement.
That includes churches, schools and hospitals.
Our Lady of Guadalupe has a Jesuit school attached, with another campus for different grades about a half-mile away.
Santarosa, also the Superintendent, said he's ready if agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement show up.
“What does handling the situation look like?” ABC 10News asked.
“Well, I can't imagine a situation in which I would allow them on the campus," he said. "They're supposed to have a warrant with the person's name and the address. I doubt that they would have that."
Regardless, he said the community is on high alert.
"Has ICE actually shown up here yet?" ABC 10News asked.
"Thanks be to God they have not, but I would say just, just the threat that they could come, the fact that this is no longer considered an off-limits place, has people nervous," Santarosa said. "I think they're thinking twice and three times before they come."
Instead of living in fear, Santarosa wants to fight.
“One person told me that it feels like they're hunting us as if we're animals," Santarosa said recalling a conversation that has stuck with him. "Which is a really terrible feeling, and I feel like, if that's what we've come to as a country, that we're now going to hunt people who don't have documents — which is a deplorable situation in my opinion — I think it goes against basic decency and dignity of people. You would hope that at least there would be one or some places which would be off-limits to hunting. That's what we're, that's what we're trying to do here.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe has joined other churches and a farmworkers union — the largest Latino union in Oregon, in fact — in a lawsuit against the Trump administration that looks to reestablish those protections.
"I'm not a person that tends to sue people," Santarosa said. "I don't tend to — 'Let me sue.' But, I do think that, in this instance, it seems like this is one of — it could be an effective way to change this one policy at this point in time."
Santarosa believes the removal of the Biden-era policy violates a basic sense of human decency. This suit, he said, brings them closer to their mission as an immigrant parish.
"It gives us the opportunity to stand up and say who we are, and who we want to be, and who we ought to be," Santarosa said. "I think that, even if we don't win, that is gained."
ABC 10News has reached out to officials with ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for a comment in response to the lawsuit but have yet to hear back.
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