Heartwarming Story About Violation of the Immigration Laws
WaPo not entirely clear on the endgame
By Andrew R. Arthur on December 27, 2019
On Christmas Eve, the Washington Post ran what appears to be a local "news" article about a 41-year-old Salvadoran national named Rosa Gutierrez Lopez captioned: "When a sanctuary becomes a home: Undocumented woman marks 1 year inside church". It tells the story of Gutierrez Lopez and her three "U.S.-born children, ages 12, 10 and 7," who have been residing at a suburban Maryland church — in Gutierrez Lopez's case, since sometime in the late fall of 2018. It is not a short article, but it leaves unanswered a lot of questions — including what the endgame is for her, and the church.
Here is what the Post does tell us. She came to the Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda, Md., from her residence in Fredericksburg, Va., shortly before she was to be deported, which had been scheduled for December 10, 2018. "Church officials" have requested on a number of occasions that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) grant a deferral of her removal order, and she has an "appeal" (likely a motion) "to reopen her asylum case", probably filed with the immigration court that issued her order. Her asylum claim ostensibly has to do with her fear of return to El Salvador, where "she says her relatives have been killed by gang members." She has an ICE ankle monitor. Her three kids moved into the church over the summer, and are now attending Montgomery County (Md.) schools. She is one of "49 residents in the United States taking refuge in faith communities." And her youngest child, John, has Down syndrome.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Heartwarming-Story-About-Violation-Immigration-Laws
