Illegal Alien Who Sought Refuge In North Carolina Church Is Detained After Stepping Out For Meeting With ICE

Adios, amigo.

A Mexican father who sought refuge from deportation in a North Carolina church for more than 11 months was detained Friday as he attended a scheduled appointment with immigration officials in order to stay in the US with his wife and son.

Samuel Oliver-Bruno, 47, was detained by plain clothes officers at a Raleigh-area immigration office, prompting dozens of supporters to block a law enforcement van with him inside and wind up under arrest themselves.

One of the people taken into custody was the church’s own Pastor Cleve May and another was his 19-year-old son, Daniel Oliver-Perez.

Oliver-Bruno’s son, Oliver-Perez – a US Citizen – was arrested as part of the group trying to stop his father from being taken away, WTVD reported.

He faces charges of assaulting a government official.

Those arrested will go before a magistrate.

Advocacy group Alerta Migratoria NC said in a statement that Oliver-Bruno went to have fingerprints taken so he could apply to stay in North Carolina with his family who had recently received threats from Veracruz where drug cartels are active.

His situation was highly publicized in a press conference December 13, 2017 when he began living in CityWell United Methodist Church in Durham to avoid immigration officers.

They generally avoid making arrests at churches, schools and hospitals, allowing Oliver-Bruno to remain in the country longer after already spending two decades with out the required legal documents.

ICE said Oliver-Bruno – who will go to a detention center – was arrested as part of a ‘targeted enforcement action’. He moved to the US in 1994.

‘Mr Oliver-Bruno is a convicted criminal who has received all appropriate legal process under federal law, has no outstanding appeals, and has no legal basis to remain in the US,’ Bryan Cox, ICE director of communications for the southern region, told ABC News.

Oliver-Bruno pleaded guilty in 2014 to using false documents to try to re-enter the US in El Paso, Texas after a trip abroad, according to court documents. He was returning to be with his wife Julia, who entered the country on a work permit in 1996 and was to undergo open heart surgery.

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