Valley churches will continue to help immigrants despite Trump's announcement on deportations

PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- It's a presidential tweet that received lots of attention. Late Monday, President Donald Trump announced in a tweet that ICE will begin "removing millions of illegal aliens".

As a border state, Arizona has seen hundreds of thousands of undocumented people coming into the state this year. Churches and other community groups have joined forces to help them.

Arizona Republican congressman Andy Biggs supports Trump's plan for ICE to step up its enforcement.

"I think the failure to enforce our law had provided an incentive to come across our border, anticipating they would not necessarily be deported or prevented from coming into the interior of the country," said Rep. Biggs, in a phone interview.

A four-year-old Guatemalan girl just arrived in Phoenix this week with her father and several other families. They are all staying at Monte Vista Church until they can reach family in other states. Pastor Angel Campos said he is not worried about Trump's tweet, because he says none of the thousands of people they've helped have been here illegally.

"They come into the United States when they're detained by Border Patrol," said Campos. "Then, they ask for asylum, and then they become asylum seekers, and there's a process."

An asylum process takes two to four years. In the meantime, Campos said these people are not considered to be illegal immigrants, and are not subject to deportation by ICE, despite what Trump tweeted.

"People come to this country illegally, and quite frankly, are claiming asylum about 90% of the time. I think their intentions are good, but bottom line, is they are aiding and abetting a fraud and crime," said Rep Biggs.