Immigrant Woman Takes Refuge In Church To Escape Deportation

NEW HAVEN, CT — A Norwalk woman who was scheduled to be deported Thursday remains in a city church as she hopes immigration officials will consider a change to her deportation status.

Nury Chavarria is staying at Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal in the Fair Haven neighborhood, according to the New Haven Register.

Gov. Dannel Malloy visited the church Thursday evening and said deporting her doesn't make sense. She works full-time as a housekeeper and is the sole provider for her four U.S.-born children who range in age from 21 to 9-years-old. Her eldest has cerebral palsy.

Malloy said President Donald Trump's administration has lied about just going after undocumented immigrants with criminal records.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has had a policy since 2011 that advises officials against operations in sensitive locations such as houses of worship, schools, hospitals and protests, according to the New Haven Independent.

Chavarria applied for asylum status when she arrived in the country in 1993, according to the Hartford Courant. The request was denied and she was given a voluntary order for deportation in 1998. In 2011 she began checking in with ICE annual and was granted stays of removal. At her annual check-in in June she was told she would likely be deported.