Guatemalan Mother Seeks Refuge In A Church

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Amanda Morales, 33, and her sons Dulce, 9, Daniela, 7, and David, 2, avoid deportation by taking refuge in a Washington Heights church. Last Friday Morales met with officials at the Holyrood Episcopal Church and stated that she is afraid of being returned to her country if she sets foot outside the building.

"What I want is to stay in this country with my children so that they are not left alone, helpless," said the mother in an interview with the Daily News newspaper. "Thanks to all the people who support me, I don't do this just for myself and my family, I do it for thousands and thousands of families who are in the same situation."

Morales, who fled his country due to violence in 2004, narrated during the interview that he had an open case about his immigration situation and that he was already working to obtain legal status in the country. However, on his last appointment, an agent from the Immigration Service (ICE) informed him that he had to buy a ticket to return to his country. "We are demanding that they reconsider, so that they are granted the right to remain with their family," said Juan Carlos Ruiz, founder of the New Sanctuary Coalition.

It was in the church that Morales took refuge, because it is a place that ICE avoids entering. Congressman Adriano Espalliat spoke to the press and showed Morales his support. "ICE must not come here, they will not come here," he said. "They want to send people back to harm them, we say no."

According to the Daily News, the crackdown on illegal immigration registered a 37 percent increase in the first half of 2017, compared to the same period last year.