A mother and three children have taken refuge in a Grand Rapids church after the father was detained by immigration officers, according to local immigration activists.
Organizers with Cosecha Michigan and GR Rapid Response to ICE say Carlos Menjivar has already made plans to voluntarily depart the U.S. with his family this Saturday. Last week he showed up for a scheduled meeting as part of his enrollment in the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program. The program is an alternative to detention for some immigrants who are in deportation proceedings.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement says before allowing immigrants into the ISAP program, officials consider criminal history, family obligations and community ties to determine if a person can be released rather than being detained while awaiting deportation.
“This family, they have been complying to everything immigration have asked them since the day they came here as refugees in 2017,” said Gema Lowe, an organizer with the immigrant rights group Cosecha Michigan.
Lowe said Menjivar and his family already had plane tickets to depart to El Salvador this Saturday. But now those plans are on hold, Lowe said, because officials took the passports the family needs to travel.
Cosecha Michigan is calling on immigration officials to release Menjivar in time to make his flight with his family. They’re also asking Michigan’s two U.S. Senators and Congresswoman Hillary Scholten (D-MI 3) to intervene.
On Wednesday Lowe and other organizers held a press conference at Fountain Street Church, where Menjivar’s family has taken refuge. Nathan Dannison, reverend at Fountain Street, said the church will offer sanctuary despite a Trump administration policy that allows immigration agents to conduct raids inside churches.
“I like to think that many of those agents are men and women of faith, and I hope that they consider that,” Dannison said. “But I think the churches know what they’re supposed to do.”
The mother and three children stood by at the press conference inside the church. The mother, who did not give her name, wore a t-shirt with characters from the kids TV show Bluey, and hugged her daughter. The family held a sign that read "Te amamos Papa!" The words in English: We love you Papa!
