The Latest: Father of ailing boy gets deportation stay

PHOENIX – The Latest on the immigrant father who sought sanctuary in a Phoenix church (all times local):

5:10 p.m.

An immigrant father of five children including a 5-year-old boy with leukemia was granted a last-minute stay by immigration authorities after he took sanctuary at a Phoenix church to avoid deportation.

Jesus Berrones had been scheduled to meet with immigration authorities Monday to begin proceedings for his return to Mexico. His parents brought the 30-year-old to the U.S. as a toddler.

Berrones said he received word late in the afternoon that he would be able to stay in the U.S. another year.

3:30 p.m.

An immigrant father of five children including a 5-year-old boy with leukemia has taken sanctuary at a Phoenix church to avoid deportation.

Jesus Berrones had been scheduled to meet with immigration authorities Monday to begin proceedings for his return to Mexico. His parents brought the 30-year-old to the U.S. as a toddler.

He is now staying at the Shadow Rock United Church of Christ in Phoenix. It is one of the churches around the U.S. that have let immigrants faced with the threat of deportation to remain at their sanctuaries.

Berrones’ pregnant wife Sonia and their children are all American citizens. Their son Jayden was diagnosed with leukemia in 2016 and is undergoing a three-year course of chemotherapy.