Advocates Call On Deportation Halt For Austin Asylum Seeker

AUSTIN, TX — Dozens of immigrant advocates will gather on Wednesday in a rally calling for a stop on deportation proceedings against an asylum seeker taking sanctuary at an Austin church for the past few months.

The gathering is designed as a show of solidarity for Alirio Gámez, who has taken sanctuary inside the First Unitarian Universalist Church, 4700 Grover Ave., to avoid his deportation. An asylum seeker from El Salvador, Gámez was denied asylum in the United States after being in three detention centers and now faces deportation to certain harm in his country of origin, advocates said.

A petition calling for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to stop the man's deportation has collected more than 2,000 signatures, and more than 100 calls have been made to ICE offices on his behalf, according to immigrant advocates. Moreover, Gámez has secured letters of support from Rep. Eddie Rodriguez and Austin City Council members Leslie Pool and Greg Casar.

“We are telling ICE to respect my right to safety," Gámez, who's been living at the church since Sept. 5, said."On Wednesday, we are going to show ICE our strength in unity and we expect to have a victory in our hands,”

Gámez plans to step outside the church to address supporters during a press conference scheduled there at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 6.

“We are going to demand that Alirio stay in the country and be granted a stay of removal,” added Alejandro Caceres, immigration organizer with Grassroots Leadership, an Austin-based immigrant advocacy group. “We have built a network that supports him and is enriched by him. Because of this, we also believe that ICE has no authority to come into our city and deport anyone from our community.”

Expected to attend the rally will be Rev. Chris Jimmerson of First Unitarian Universalist Church, Sulma Franco and Peggy Morton of Austin Sanctuary Network, and supporters from Austin and San Antonio. Others supporting his mission to remain in the U.S. include clergy of Congregational Church of Austin, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, Saint Andrews Presbyterian of Austin, Trinity Church of Austin, and Texas UU Justice Ministry.

Franco herself took sanctuary at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in 2015. An undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who arrived in San Antonio before moving to Austin, Franco spoke to the San Antonio Current about her plight while holed up at the house of worship to stave off her own deportation.

"From the time I first came to the U.S., I presented myself to immigration authorities every three months," she told the newspaper in a telephone interview from her makeshift home. Despite checking in to report her status, the immigrant who ran a successful food truck operation in Austin was abruptly told she'd be deported as political winds began to change in this country five years after her arrival.

"I didn't have any problems until then," said Franco, 33. "The immigration official said to me, 'You know what, I want to tell you your case is closed and you'll be detained.' As simple as that," she said. Franco has since been allowed to stay.

From Austin, the group will embark on a caravan to ICE offices in San Antonio calling for the agency to drop its deportation proceedings, with plans to file a so-called "stay of removal" seeking to block his ouster. The group will descend on ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) field office located at 3523 Crosspoint in San Antonio.

The hashtag #LetAlirioStay has been created to draw attention to Gámez's plight on social media. Following the group's 8:30 a.m. press conference outside the Austin church, supporters will launch their rally at 11 a.m.

>>> Photo by Nitish Meena on Unsplash