Chicas took refuge in June 2017 in the School for Conversion, a small house on the grounds of a Baptist church in Durham, North Carolina. At the time, he was facing a deportation order after years of reporting to ICE.
Chicas says he never expected to spend so much time in the sanctuary.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” he told CNN in a telephone interview this week as he was leaving. “I thought it would take three or four months.”
But months have changed into years.
His family lives nearby in Raleigh and visits whenever they can. And from its limitations on the site of the St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church, Chicas – a pastor himself – continued to minister to his flock via live Facebook videos and occasional personal meetings.
In his sermons he often preached about the power of salvation. The use of drugs and alcohol put him on a dangerous path, he says – one that led to conviction of DUI and domestic abuse and eventually a deportation order. Since 2002, Chicas says he has been a changed man.
And he said this week he was grateful that the Biden government’s policy gives him another chance. He is looking forward to spending more time with his family – visiting parks and beaches and visiting for ice cream.
“It’s going to be a beautiful change,” he said.
According to Church World Service, in 2018, about 50 people lived in churches nationwide. Officials at the organization did not immediately respond to a request from CNN for updated data.
Chicas said he spent many days in the sanctuary, forgotten, isolated and feeling anxious about the future.
But there were also brighter moments.
“I met so many people … I realized that there are hundreds and hundreds of Americans who have a good heart and love immigrants,” he said. “I saw it with my own eyes.”
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this report.