Undocumented man arrested after leaving sanctuary to meet officials
MORRISVILLE, N.C.—After living almost a year in a Durham church, an undocumented man was arrested Friday by immigration officers when he left the church to keep an appointment with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Morrisville.
Samuel Oliver-Bruno, 47, has been living in the basement of CityWell United Methodist Church for 11 months while he petitions to have his deportation to Mexico delayed. Churches are one of the few places where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not make arrests.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services requested Oliver-Bruno to appear in person to provide fingerprints, a necessary step for his petition, according to a news release from Alerta Migratoria, an immigrants rights advocacy organization in North Carolina.
Oliver-Bruno was accompanied by faith leaders, family members and other supporters Friday morning. He was arrested by immigration authorities inside the USCIS office.
When asked by The News & Observer why Oliver-Bruno was arrested, ICE spokesperson Bryan Cox said in an email:
“Mr. Oliver-Bruno is a convicted criminal who has received all appropriate legal process under federal law, has no outstanding appeals, and has no legal basis to remain in the U.S.”
A crowd of supporters gathered outside the office shortly before 9 o’clock Friday morning to pray for Oliver-Bruno. CityWell’s pastor Cleve May told those gathered that he hoped attending the appointment would be a simple step of due process for Oliver-Bruno’s request for deferred action.
“This is a required part of that process on the part of USCIS, and so we’re asking that our government honor a person’s attempt to follow the process,” May said to the crowd before entering the building with Oliver-Bruno and his legal team.
“Your presence here is a very helpful thing in demonstrating the community support and the fact that if any violation of this due process were to occur it will not go unwitnessed and it will not go before the community crying out for justice.”
Oliver-Bruno entered the building with May and his legal team while the rest of his supporters waited outside the building. Through the glass doors of the building, some supporters and reporters saw OliverBruno, his son and immigration officers scuffle.
Oliver-Bruno was arrested and taken out a back door and put into a van, which was then surrounded by his supporters. Some blockaded the van for about two hours singing worship songs and praying. Eventually, Morrisville Police and the Wake Sheriff’s Office arrested those blockading the van, including May, after multiple warnings to disperse.
Oliver-Bruno’s son, Daniel Oliver Perez, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in the parking lot after approaching the van to say goodbye to his father. He was charged by Morrisville police with assault on a government officer.
The Morrisville Police Department received a call at 9:15 a.m. about a crowd preventing ICE from transporting someone who had been arrested, the agency said in a news release.
The police department says it confirmed ICE had a federal arrest warrant for Oliver-Bruno and that the agency did not assist in his arrest. The police department did arrest multiple people in the crowd who were told to disperse. Morrisville police said they did not have the number of people arrested because the arrests were still being processed late Friday afternoon.
“The Morrisville Police Department did not have prior knowledge of plans to arrest Mr. Oliver-Bruno. Anyone with inquiries about the initial arrest are asked to contact the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office.”
Virdiana Martinez, Alerta Migratoria’s director, said OliverBruno knew he was taking a risk by leaving the church, and an even bigger risk by walking into an immigration office so that his petition could be considered.
Oliver-Bruno is one of six immigrants in the state who is living on church properties to avoid imminent deportation and buy time to delay deportation. These churches are called “sanctuary churches” and are part of a national growing faith-based movement. ICE generally doesn’t arrest undocumented immigrants in churches, schools or hospitals, based on an internal self-imposed policy established in 2012.
“By them leaving the church and entering these (immigration) offices they are essentially putting themselves in harm’s way … to make this request,” Martinez said.