Fines against immigrants seeking sanctuary in US to end
FOX 13
and last updated 2021-04-28 14:22:04-04
SALT LAKE CITY â A Trump-era policy that authorized U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to issue thousands of dollars in fines to immigrants who sought sanctuary in this country has now ended, according to an announcement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
âKnowing that we have won one more victory against the previous government makes us continue with the hope of having the future for which we are fighting. . . . Thank you Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Acting ICE Director Tae Johnson for making a compassionate decision on the side of justice,â said sanctuary leader Vicky Chavez, who has taken sanctuary at First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City.
Kelsie Moore / KUER
Originally published on April 15, 2021 7:16 pm
After more than three years, Vicky Chavez took her first steps of freedom outside the church that gave her sanctuary.
Chavez is an undocumented immigrant who fled political unrest and an abusive relationship in Honduras back in 2014. Her
She was waiting at the Salt Lake City International airport for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to call her about her request. When her lawyer told her it was denied, she and her two daughters sought protection inside First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City to avoid deportation.
Tuesday, Chavez learned ICE had granted her a stay of removal. Chavez said she was preparing for her weekly meeting with the National Sanctuary Collective when her attorney called with the news. She thought he was joking.
After Years Of Living Inside A Church, A Honduran Mother Is Granted Freedom kuer.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kuer.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Analysis By
Jennifer Doherty | February 26, 2021, 8:36 PM EST
For immigration attorney Lizbeth Mateo, her clients cases are personal the outcomes could affect her own removal proceedings someday. (Photo courtesy of Lizbeth Mateo/Optimist Films)
Before immigration attorney Lizbeth Mateo accompanied her client, Edith Espinal, into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement s office in Westerville, Ohio, on Feb. 18, she made a routine call to her assistant back in California.
Like her client, Mateo lacks legal documents to reside in the U.S., and she knew that either of them could be detained upon arrival a possibility that could affect her work on other cases. Espinal was scared preparing for the encounter, she told Law360 through an interpreter, but had faith in her attorney.
Sanctuary movement leaders sue U.S., claiming religious rights violated
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Communities and congregations around the country, some spurred to action by anti-immigrant rhetoric in 2016, are working together to assist immigrants who are fighting deportation. File Photo by Justin Hamel/UPI | License Photo
Feb. 1 (UPI) Four women who came to the United States seeking asylum from persecution in their home countries allege in a federal lawsuit that Trump administration officials targeted them with exorbitant civil fines because they took sanctuary in churches and spoke out against unjust and punitive deportation orders.
The Austin Sanctuary Network in Texas and the Philadelphia-based Free Migration Project also are plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 19, the day before President Joe Biden took the oath of office. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are named as defe