Samuel Oliver-Bruno detained when applying to stay in North Carolina with his family, advocates say, as protests lead to arrests

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

An immigrant who sought refuge from deportation in a North Carolina church, staying there for 11 months, was arrested on Friday after arriving at an appointment with immigration officials.

The arrest led to protests and the arrest of some supporters of Samuel Oliver-Bruno, the 47-year-old Mexican national who, according to a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) news release, was detained at a Raleigh-area immigration office.

An advocacy group, Alerta Migratoria NC, said in a statement Oliver-Bruno went to have fingerprints taken so he could apply to stay in North Carolina with his wife and son.

He has been living in CityWell United Methodist Church in Durham since late 2017, to avoid the reach of immigration officers, who generally avoid making arrests at churches and other sensitive locations.

Ice said Oliver-Bruno, who has lived in North Carolina for two decades, had no legal basis to be in the US and had exhausted his “extensive” appeals. In 2014, according to court documents, Oliver-Bruno pleaded guilty to using false documents to try to re-enter the US in Texas.

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Several dozen protesters came to the federal immigration office in Morrisville on Friday in hopes of dissuading authorities from detaining Oliver-Bruno. Local TV footage showed some being led away in handcuffs by deputies after they apparently refused to disperse. A sheriff’s spokesman did not immediately respond to an email asking about the additional arrests.

Alerta Migratoria NC said Oliver-Bruno had filed an application with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), seeking to avoid deportation. In a statement preceding his arrest, the group said Oliver-Bruno was asked to come in for a biometric screening as part of the application.

“To comply with this request, Samuel will have to leave sanctuary and risk getting detained,” the statement said.

A USCIS spokeswoman, Pamela Wilson, said the agency generally could not discuss individual applications for deportation deferment.