{"id":3989,"date":"2015-08-07T16:14:07","date_gmt":"2015-08-07T16:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=3989"},"modified":"2015-08-07T16:14:07","modified_gmt":"2015-08-07T16:14:07","slug":"faith-leaders-urge-ice-to-stop-deportation-of-lgbt-activist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=3989","title":{"rendered":"Faith Leaders Urge ICE to Stop Deportation of LGBT Activist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Local

Local faith leaders gathered Wednesday, August 29, 2015, in support of LGBT activist Sulma Franco, currently living in sanctuary at First Unitarian Universalist Church in Austin. They released a letter, with signatures from over 60 clergy, urging U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to stop deportation proceedings. Photo: Bethany Carson.<\/p><\/div>\n

by Eric Galatas\/TNS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas – A group of faith leaders and activists gathered at First Unitarian Universalist Church in Austin on Wednesday, August 29, in an effort to stop the deportation of Sulma Franco, an LGBT activist from Guatemala.<\/p>\n

Franco has been living in sanctuary at the church for the past two months.<\/p>\n

Cristina Parker, immigration projects director for Grassroot Leadership, says more than 60 clergy from across Central Texas signed a letter to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in support of Franco\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sent a letter today to ICE, saying that they stand by Sulma, that they don\u2019t want her deported,\u201d Parker relates. \u201cThe only reason that she faces deportation now is over a clerical error. ICE has been clear before that they want to, you know, prioritize their resources. And Sulma should not be a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franco was detained during a routine meeting with ICE because her previous attorney failed to file paperwork. Parker notes that Franco spent almost a year in three different detention facilities in Texas and Arizona before being released on a $15,000 bond.<\/p>\n

In June, after Franco reached out to local immigrants\u2019 rights groups, First Unitarian Universalist Church offered sanctuary protection.<\/p>\n

Franco has since been working with attorneys and community groups to convince ICE to stop deportation proceedings.<\/p>\n

\u201cA business owner who wants to work in her community, who\u2019s become part of that community, who\u2019s part of a church,\u201d Parker relates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not someone who should be a priority for deportation. We need her here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franco came to the U.S. in 2009 seeking asylum and started a food truck business with her partner.<\/p>\n

Parker adds Franco is reluctant to return to Guatemala because LGBT activists there are frequently targets of violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Eric Galatas\/TNS AUSTIN, Texas – A group of faith leaders and activists gathered at First Unitarian Universalist Church in Austin on Wednesday, August 29, in an effort to stop the deportation of Sulma Franco, an LGBT activist from Guatemala. Franco has been living in sanctuary at the church for the past two months. Cristina […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3989"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3991,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3989\/revisions\/3991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}