'Protect Rosa': Over 130 clergy members call on Virginia senators to help mom in sanctuary

Following a letter from over 130 clergy members, both of Virginia’s U.S. senators are condemning a cruel effort to deport an undocumented immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for over a decade. Rosa Gutiérrez Lopez, a mom of three U.S. citizens, has been in sanctuary at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda, Maryland, since December.

“In a time when our current administration is separating thousands of children from their parents,” members of the DMV Sanctuary Congregation Network wrote to Democrats Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, “we need our senators from Virginia to reject the bait from a president who makes false claims about violence at the border and demonizes immigrants, regardless of status, at every opportunity.”

Gutiérrez Lopez has been targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of sheer cruelty. She has no criminal record. She was following the rules by checking in regularly with immigration officials, and since 2014 they’d allowed her to work legally. But last fall, she and her American children were ordered to self-deport from their Virginia home to El Salvador. Left with no other choice, she went into sanctuary. 

Clergy members now hope that Kaine and Warner can appeal directly to ICE’s top official in Virginia and ask for a stay, as well as continue to raise awareness about this family. While her kids can sometimes visit her, they are away in the care of a relative. “Rosa’s case is another heartbreaking example of the Trump administration targeting immigrant families who are contributing to their communities,” Kaine said, “instead of prioritizing the deportation of people who put public safety at risk.”

ICE is out of control. Gutiérrez Lopez should never have been a target in the first place. This agency doesn’t need a massive check; it needs to be checked. “We urge you to employ the greatest abilities of yourselves and your office to protect Rosa from deportation,” clergy members continue in their letter. “Her children and her community need her!  We sincerely believe that publicly demonstrating your support for Rosa’s freedom will go a long way to create a more unified Virginia.”

from Daily Kos http://bit.ly/2GnvQUY