SAN ANTONIO – The Austin Sanctuary Network is calling on Rep. Joaquin Castro to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to grant two undocumented immigrants prosecutorial discretion.
- Group rallied outside San Antonio Federal building Thursday
- Immigrants were denied asylum
- Supporters say they will be killed if deported
On Thursday, the Austin-based group rallied outside San Antonio's Federal building to get answers to their requests. Spectrum News received the following statement from Castro:
“Hilda Ramirez and Alirio Gámez fled violence in their native countries in search of a safer life in America. I wrote ICE on their behalf earlier this year to request a status update, urge immigration officials to give full and fair consideration to their refugee status, and exercise prosecutorial discretion. I followed up earlier this week with the ICE San Antonio Field Office Director Daniel Bible on my inquiry twice, and Director Bible is still working on getting us a written status update that I expect soon.”
The urgent call to action comes after Ramirez and Gamez were both denied asylum in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Since then both have been residing in several sanctuary churches in the Austin area. In a press release, Gamez was recently diagnosed with serious health issues and isn't able to receive proper care in sanctuary. Ramirez claims she hasn't been able to be with her son due to the threat of deportation.
"They need to be free. They have been through horrible conditions since they've left their countries," said Lynn Cervini, a supporter.
Ramirez is from Guatemala and Gamez is from El Salvador.
"If they go back to their countries, they will be killed. We think here in the United States we need to be more humane," Cervini said.
On Wednesday, ASN went to Rep. Will Hurd's office calling on him to put pressure on ICE for Ramirez's discretion from deportation. The group claims his office called police and had four members arrested for civil disobedience. Cervini was one of the few handcuffed.
"They searched me. I felt like I was a real criminal. They searched me and searched the other people. Then they took us out in handcuffs."
Now, supporters are hoping Castro will be their saving grace but ICE provided no timetable for an update on their requests.