A woman marches alongside others during Sanctuary Everywhere, starting at the Wake County Justice Center and ending at the North Carolina State Capitol in support of immigrant rights on Saturday. Sanctuary Everywhere Raleigh was organized by Wolfpack Students for Immigrant Rights and Equality on behalf of the many immigrants in North Carolina that fear deportation or separation from their families." />
Kaydee Gawlik
A woman marches alongside others during Sanctuary Everywhere, starting at the Wake County Justice Center and ending at the North Carolina State Capitol in support of immigrant rights on Saturday. Sanctuary Everywhere Raleigh was organized by Wolfpack Students for Immigrant Rights and Equality on behalf of the many immigrants in North Carolina that fear deportation or separation from their families.
Immigration has always been a subject of controversy, but it seems to be an especially hot-button topic under the current administration. With alleged racist commentary and a push to ban immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, the immigration debate never seems to leave our television screens. Wolfpack Students for Immigrant Rights and Equality is not a group to cower from it.
This student organization seeks to engage college students politically so that they may be a resource for immigrants facing injustice. Many immigrants are separated from their families when they are deported to their countries of origin, and these countries of origin are oftentimes places they have not visited in decades.
Sanctuary Everywhere is just one example of the many demonstrations hosted by Wolfpack Students for Immigrant Rights and Equality. On Jan. 27, dozens of community members marched from Wake County Justice Center to the State Capitol to show support for those facing deportation.
Sindhoor Ambati, a second-year NC State student studying biomedical engineering and English, is just one of nearly one hundred attendees that attended the demonstration to show support for immigrants.
“[Showing support] is something that I think is really important,” Ambati said. “My parents both immigrated here legally, and it was hard for them even with papers. It was still really tough for them to be in a country where they didn’t know anyone and they didn’t speak the language amazingly, even with the support […] kind of […] of the government.”
Because of her family’s experience emigrating from India to the United States, Ambati said she feels she can understand the fear and uncertainty of being in a more tenuous situation. Many parents who have come to the United States illegally have children that can receive protection under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, but this program has been threatened by the current administration.
“When Trump announced his plan to repeal DACA, I was just imagining there are so many parents who come to the United States illegally,” Ambati said. “Without papers, it must just be so much stress, just so much heartache so that their children can have this good life here. The fact that someone’s just going to strip that away […] that’s just an insult to the parents themselves.”
Specifically, Wolfpack Students for Immigrant Rights and Equality recognized four individuals struggling with their immigration status. José Chicas, Samuel Oliver-Bruno, Juana Ortega and Eliseo Jimenez are all currently in sanctuary due to a policy that keeps Immigration Customs and Services from arresting people in houses of worship.
Demonstrators marched through downtown Raleigh chanting such slogans as “No hate, no fear,” and came to a stop in front of the State Capitol Building. Once there, members of the host student organization gave speeches to explain their position.
Genesis Torres, a third-year student studying psychology, read a statement written by Samuel Oliver-Bruno. He has been in sanctuary in a Durham church so that he may avoid deportation and separation from his wife and children as a result.
“I came to the United States in 1994 for the first time,” Oliver-Bruno said. “I came to give my family a better place […]. In that time that I was in the United States, I met my wife who I had a child with.”
In 1999, Oliver-Bruno returned to Mexico with his wife to care for his sick parents. His wife also became sick while in Mexico, so they returned to the United States for better healthcare. His wife made it back into the country, but Oliver-Bruno was detained for a period of time. Eventually, he was allowed to stay after obtaining a permit that could be renewed each year based on his behavior.
“They told me I was going to have this permit and that I could renew it year after year depending on my behavior,” Oliver-Bruno said. “So that’s what I did; I renewed it year after year, but in July 2017, when I went to go renew it, the immigration officer told me that I was no longer going to be able to renew it because of the new administration.”
Oliver-Bruno said he was stunned and that his son broke down in tears upon hearing the news.
“[The immigration officer] told me that he had reviewed my records,” Oliver-Bruno said. “He said that I was an upstanding community member.”
Despite being an upstanding community member, however, Oliver-Bruno was still facing deportation. After another appointment in which he was told he had to leave the country, he entered sanctuary in CityWell Church in Durham.
“I made the decision because I couldn’t go back to Mexico,” Oliver-Bruno said. “That’s as if I would cross my arms, pout, and say nothing. For me, my priority is my wife and my son, and I want to fight for them.”
Oliver-Bruno is far from alone in his fight and the turnout at Sanctuary Everywhere evidenced this. Wolfpack Students for Immigrant Rights and Equality hopes to shed more light on the harmful nature of current immigration policy.
For students interested in getting involved themselves, future events can be found on the group’s Facebook page “Wolfpack Students for Immigrant Rights and Equality”.