For the second time in two years, a Seattle church is vowing to provide sanctuary for a person avoiding deportation after entering the U.S. illegally.
Jaime Rubio Sulficio, 37, has been staying at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral on Capitol Hill since last Friday, KIRO-TV reported.
He was ordered to leave the U.S. by March 28.
“He’s here on our campus and will be here until a legal remedy can be found,” said Dean Steven Thomason.
Sulficio has been in the U.S. for more than a decade. He now owns a construction company and is a husband and father of a 6-year-old boy. Both his wife and son are American citizens.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement initially ordered him to be deported seven years ago. According to officials, that’s after Sulficio had left the U.S. briefly to visit his ailing mother. He was then flagged by immigration agents upon reentry.
Since then, ICE had been granting Sulficio a temporary stay every year until his latest application was rejected.
Last year, another Mexican citizen, Jose Robles, also avoided deportation when he was taken in by Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Seattle, where he's been living for the last nine months.
St. Mark's Episcopal is part of that same sanctuary movement.
We reached out to ICE officials, who did not comment specifically on this case but said in a statement:
"Sanctuary policies not only provide a refuge for illegal aliens, but they also shield criminal aliens who prey on people in their own and other communities."
So far, St. Mark's said ICE had not contacted them and Mr. Sulficio can stay at the church for as long as he needs.
“We believe it’s the moral right for people and families to stay together,” said Thomason.
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