For one family, Supreme Court immigration ruling is a devastating blow

By Fiona Ortiz CHICAGO (Reuters) - Watching the news on an old TV set inside a Chicago church, Jose Juan Moreno and his wife were crushed on Thursday to learn that the Supreme Court had blocked the immigration plan that might have given their family a chance of staying together. Moreno, a 34-year-old Mexican who came to the United States in 1999, took sanctuary in University Church in the Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side about two months ago as a last resort as he fights deportation. His wife, Berenice Alonso, 29, who came to the United States from Mexico in 2000, intended to apply to stay in the country under President Barack Obama's 2014 plan giving parents of U.S.-born children the opportunity to remain with them. The couple are undocumented immigrants, but all five of their children, aged 2 to 14, were born in the United States and are U.S. citizens. To their disappointment, the Supreme Court's split ruling leaves in place a 2015 lower-court ruling invalidating the plan that Obama tried to put into effect by executive order, known as Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, or DAPA. "We were really sad because we hoped for a good ruling for people who would qualify. I was hoping that my wife wouldn't have to live any more with the fear of being deported," Moreno said while his three sons watched television and two daughters did activities in the church basement. Solemn-faced, he sat on a chair under a hand-drawn sign from supporters: "I stand with Jose Juan." Moreno, who worked for a moving company before he went into sanctuary, passes his days learning to play music on a donated guitar. While he spoke with Reuters, a supporter came by to play soccer to keep him distracted. Moreno gladly took up the offer, even though the soccer practice was inside a church hall - he cannot leave the premises. Alonso said the court's decision was a blow to their optimism. Some 4 million people in the United States would have benefited from Obama's executive order if it had been put into action. Critics of the immigration plan said the president has exceeded his power by enacting it unilaterally. Moreno is clinging to hope that immigration officials will use discretionary power to reverse his final deportation order - which stems from a 2009 drunk-driving charge combined with his undocumented status. He was ordered to leave the United States in April, but even though he had no more appeals he chose to take refuge at the church while trying to find a legal remedy. Even if Alonso could have benefited from Obama's now-invalidated immigration plan, it is not clear that would have helped Moreno in his fight to remain. Still, the couple said that if at least one of them was legal, that would give their children more stability, make it easier for her to work in this country, and perhaps her status could eventually be extended to him. The couple are living off savings but do not know how long that will last. "He had really been hoping that I would be in a better situation, that one of us would have some kind of relief, that the Supreme Court decision would be some sort of good news," Alonso said. Every day Alonso makes food and does laundry for the family at their house in Bolingbrook, a Chicago suburb, and brings her husband clean clothes and something to eat. Some nights she and the children stay with Moreno in his third-floor room, which has a bed, couches, a microwave and a small refrigerator. Alonso spoke at a rally on Thursday decrying the Supreme Court decision, and the couple said they would be work with groups that are pushing the president for a moratorium on deportations. Obama reiterated on Thursday at a news conference that his administration's priorities for deportation are criminals and recently arrived immigrants from Central America. Immigration activists say cases like Moreno's - he says he complied with all of the terms of his DUI conviction - should not fall within those priorities, especially when it comes to keeping families together. "Some people are not necessarily criminals but their crimes are considered serious for immigration purposes. These are errors in the administration of justice," said Chicago immigration activist Rosi Carrasco. (Editing by Frank McGurty and Leslie Adler)