PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Francisco Aguirre can’t sleep very well these days. The thought of being deported keeps him up at night. Since President Donald Trump took office, Aguirre has known that his days could be numbered in this country.

“I can't imagine leaving my kids behind,” said Aguirre.

Aguirre says he came to the United States from El Salvador when he was just a teenager.

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“I flee the violence there because my life, you know, was in danger, and if I stay, I will get killed," he said. "My relatives got killed back in El Salvador, and I did not have any other choice to just run away one day when I could, you know.”

After years of making the United States his home, he was faced with deportation yet again. That’s where Pastor Mark Knutson with the Augustana Lutheran Church comes in. He has vowed to protect people like Aguirre, because he once helped protect Aguirre directly.

“I got the phone call saying Francisco Aguirre’s house is surrounded by ICE. It's 2014. 'Can we bring him to Augustana? It's the only safe place in Oregon we know.' I said, 'Of course,'” said Knutson.

The pastor calls the Augustana Lutheran Church in Northeast Portland a sanctuary.

It sure was a sanctuary for Aguirre, who slept under the altar for his first couple of nights at the church.

“The idea was if ICE were to dare breach this sacred space, this holy grail, and violently drag a man out of this church, with all the cellphones and technology, even back 10 years ago, can you imagine the pictures of a man being dragged?'” said Knutson.

The church is even equipped with its own alarm system.

“The plan was if ICE came into this church, we would ring the bell,” said Knutson.

Now that President Donald Trump is in office, there are many reasons the Augustana Lutheran Church community is on their toes.

Trump's executive order, “Protecting the American people against invasion,” says, “It is the policy of the United States to faithfully execute the immigration laws against all inadmissible and removable aliens, particularly those aliens who threaten the safety or security of the American people.”

A reporter asked Trump when we expect ICE raids to happen. Here's what he said: “I don't want to say when, but it’s going to happen. It has to happen or we’re not going to have a country.”

That’s why Knutson is intent on organizing.

“You'll see this church overflowing with leaders from the community, everyday people here to stand in solidarity. That's going to send a message to this administration that we in Oregon are not going to go for this,” he said.

The pastor says the alternative is a death sentence.

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It's something Aguirre knows all too well. His son Moses was so scared of being deported that he went back to El Salvador with the help of his family. Aguirre had no idea that his drive to the airport would be the last time he would see his son.

“Moses was shot to death. He was playing soccer, and there was guys that they jump the fence, but there was the police at the entrance,” said Aguirre.

If there are mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, the greater Portland area is going to be different.

We caught up with an immigration attorney who was barely able to talk to us.

"I think my office missed 50 phone calls, missed 50 phone calls yesterday. I don't know how you guys got through my office yesterday," said Vanesa Pancic, an immigration attorney. "The fear and anxiety that has already been created is something that I as an attorney have not experienced or seen ever in 20 some years that I have been practicing law."

The question of when deportations will occur, and who will be deported in our community is unknown. While we wait Aguirre still works toward his dream.

“I hope one day I will be the pastor that hopes the community unites to bring the world of God to unite people,” said Aguirre.

According to a 2016 American Immigration Council report, almost 90,000 Oregon citizens live with a family member who is undocumented.