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Old 07-17-2012, 08:51 AM
Borderwatch Borderwatch is offline
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Default Remember the Simi Valley Church Protests?

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/jul/...ntinues-fight/

Five years later, Oxnard woman continues fight against deportation threat

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/jul/...#ixzz20tpXXeLR
- vcstar.com



As it has since she gained enough time five years ago to thwart immigration agents who showed up at her front door to deport her, the clock is ticking for the woman who calls herself Liliana Santuario.

Back then, at 6:15 a.m. May 16, 2007, agents gave the Oxnard woman a brief reprieve to find care for her children. She fled for sanctuary in a path that ultimately led to United Church of Christ in Simi Valley.

She lived on church for property for more than two years, at first amid protests and national attention, later in a quiet but constant fear that leaving the church could mean being deported away from her family.

Santuario left the church in 2010, returning to the home in Oxnard where she lives with her husband and four children, who range from 22 months to 12 years. Her day-to-day fear of being removed from the country subsided because immigration officials gave her temporary deportation protection.

Her lawyer said attempts to get a green card have been denied once by Citizenship and Immigration Services, triggering an ongoing request for reconsideration.

Now, the deferred-action status that protects her from deportation expires at the end of the month, according to a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security.

"At the end of that time frame, ICE will re-evaluate her case to determine appropriate next steps," said Virginia Kice in a written statement.

Peter Schey, an attorney involved with the case since the start, said it's unlikely Santuario will be deported at the end of July or returned to a status where she again needs sanctuary.

Instead, Schey said, her case will be decided or ICE will extend her temporary protected status. The agency extended her status once last year.

"We don't think she's in any more jeopardy this month than two or three or four months ago," said Schey, president of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles.

Santuario won't use her real last name, instead employing "Santuario," the Spanish word for sanctuary. Lawyers declined to make her available for a face-to-face interview, instead asking to pass a reporter's emailed questions to her.

"Until my case is resolved, we are very worried that our family could be torn apart even though my husband is a U.S. citizen, our children are U.S. citizens and I have an approved visa petition," she said. "We also realize we are not alone; there are thousands of families around the country in our situation."

Schey said the government alleges Liliana claimed U.S. citizenship with a falsified document when she tried to enter the United States at San Ysidro in 1998. That claim to citizenship bars someone from legal status for life.

The document came from an immigrant smuggler, Schey said. But he argues that as she was presenting the document, Santuario immediately told authorities it was not hers. Such an admission legally neutralizes the claim to citizenship and removes the ban on residency, he said.

"She made a decision not to go through with it," he said. "She would have turned back if it was possible, I think."

Schey said that if the request for a green card is turned down, Santuario may have the option of going to federal court.

When a decision will be made is unknown. Schey said he recently discussed Liliana with top officials of ICE and Citizenship and Immigration Services. But he also said the federal government is overwhelmed with cases.

"I've had cases pending for 10 and 15 years," he said.

A spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Services declined to comment on any possible ruling.

When Santuario moved into a home on church property in Simi Valley in August 2007, turmoil erupted. Protesters with bullhorns marched in front of the church, demanding her immediate deportation. City officials tried unsuccessfully to get the church to pay $39,306 for security.

The furor quieted as weeks and then months passed. But the debate over Santuario's story may never die.

"She allowed herself to come here illegally, break the system, start a family and then go into a church to tug on the heartstrings of America," said Chelene Nightingale, a former spokeswoman for the Save Our State group that organized church protests. "It backfired."

Nightingale, a publicist who ran for governor of California in 2010 with the Constitution Party, said Santuario represents a bigger problem.

"It just shows that five years later we haven't accomplished anything regarding the security of our border," she said.

Last month, President Barack Obama announced that illegal immigrants won't be deported if they are younger than 30 and entered the country before age 16. The change doesn't affect people like Santuario who meet neither requirement.

"I believe we still have a lot of work to do, so cases like hers could be solved," said Alicia Flores, executive director of the La Hermandad Mexicana community center and advocacy group in Oxnard. She has known Santuario since before her troubles began.

"We still need comprehensive immigration reform," Flores said. "If not, she could be separated from her family and deported."

Other people focus not only on sealed borders but also on cutting off federal funding to cities that protect illegal immigrants and on the need to rebuild a worker permit system.

"I blame people who don't work out the greater problem," said Carla Bonney of Ventura, leader of a conservative group called Not Going to Take It Anymore. "We have a real problem, not just a one-woman problem."

As for Santuario, her lawyers said she takes care of her family, works part time and volunteers for faith-based groups.

"I do not feel forgotten," she said in a statement emailed by Schey. "I know the government is looking into my case and I hope and I pray they will come to a favorable decision."

© 2012 Ventura County Star. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/jul/...#ixzz20tpfrixK
- vcstar.com
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Old 07-17-2012, 11:13 AM
Ayatollahgondola's Avatar
Ayatollahgondola Ayatollahgondola is offline
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Comments are disabled for that article. Could it be that there were too many people with a negative opinion of the illegal alien, the obama administration, or the DHS over her still being in this country?

There might have been some negative comments in regards to that cockroach nightingale too
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