Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Singing 'Amazing Grace,' a church surrounded an ICE van to stop an arrest. 27 were jailed.
Source: Washington Post
Singing ‘Amazing Grace,’ a church surrounded an ICE van to stop an arrest. 27 were jailed.
By Meagan Flynn November 26 at 2:55 PM
“Who’s willing to get arrested if it comes down to that?” Pastor Cleve May asked two dozen members of his congregation in the parking lot at CityWell United Methodist Church early Friday morning.
Hands shot up without hesitation. The congregants were preparing a sort of migrant caravan of their own, shuttling a single Mexican immigrant on a 15-mile journey from the church in Durham, N.C., to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Morrisville. The undocumented immigrant, Samuel Oliver-Bruno, had an appointment.
It was supposed to be routine, just a fingerprint — a step on the road to a deportation reprieve. Oliver-Bruno, a 47-year-old father to a U.S.-citizen son, had been living in a Sunday-school classroom in the church basement for the past 11 months, a refuge where immigration authorities couldn’t arrest him. His appointment with USCIS would mark the first time he stepped beyond the church property line since then, and what seemed like half his church went with him because, May said, “we don’t really believe that sanctuary is just a building.”
“The sanctuary went with Samuel to this office,” he told The Washington Post. “We were going to go in this office together.”
-snip-
It didn’t last long. Two minutes later, they traded the singing for screaming.
“No! They’re arresting him!” one woman yelled.
-snip-
By Meagan Flynn November 26 at 2:55 PM
“Who’s willing to get arrested if it comes down to that?” Pastor Cleve May asked two dozen members of his congregation in the parking lot at CityWell United Methodist Church early Friday morning.
Hands shot up without hesitation. The congregants were preparing a sort of migrant caravan of their own, shuttling a single Mexican immigrant on a 15-mile journey from the church in Durham, N.C., to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Morrisville. The undocumented immigrant, Samuel Oliver-Bruno, had an appointment.
It was supposed to be routine, just a fingerprint — a step on the road to a deportation reprieve. Oliver-Bruno, a 47-year-old father to a U.S.-citizen son, had been living in a Sunday-school classroom in the church basement for the past 11 months, a refuge where immigration authorities couldn’t arrest him. His appointment with USCIS would mark the first time he stepped beyond the church property line since then, and what seemed like half his church went with him because, May said, “we don’t really believe that sanctuary is just a building.”
“The sanctuary went with Samuel to this office,” he told The Washington Post. “We were going to go in this office together.”
-snip-
It didn’t last long. Two minutes later, they traded the singing for screaming.
“No! They’re arresting him!” one woman yelled.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/11/26/singing-amazing-grace-church-surrounded-an-ice-van-stop-an-arrest-were-jailed/
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
