CENTENNIAL — Arturo Hernandez Garcia has lived in the basement of a Unitarian church in Denver for 115 days to escape deportation.
On Thursday, about 100 people demonstrated in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Centennial office, as his family, along with clergy and others, delivered the latest application to stay his removal.
“We are a little bit sad, because we haven’t gotten an answer” to a petition submitted 2½ weeks ago, said his wife, Ana Sauzameda, 41.
Jeanette Vizguerra, 42, a Mexican also in the country illegally, came to the office with the group to present a similar application.
Both qualify for temporary stays under one of a series of executive actions that President Barack Obama announced late last year, said Jennifer Piper, coordinator for the Metropolitan Denver Sanctuary Committee.
The president’s action allows some who are in the country illegally to temporarily stay without the fear of deportation if they pay taxes and can pass a background check. It doesn’t provide a path to citizenship, and those who qualify must reapply to renew the status every three years, Piper said.
Garcia, 40, a native of Chihuahua, Mexico, moved into the First Unitarian Society of Denver church on Lafayette Street in Denver in October.
The contractor entered the country on a visa in 1999 and married Sauzameda. The couple had two girls, Mariana, 15, and Andrea, 9. He remained in the United States after his visa expired.
Through an interpreter, Vizguerra, who has three small children, all born here, said that when she and her husband lived in Mexico City, he was kidnapped three times. They left the country “mainly for safety reasons.”
They have been in the U.S. for 17 years. And “in those years, we did things right, always paid taxes,” and never asked for public assistance, she said.
When Vizguerra and her children entered the building, it wasn’t clear whether she would be held for deportation or allowed to leave. Demonstrators cheered as she stepped out with the children, Luna, 10, Roberto, 8 and Zuri, 4.
ICE officials told her to check back in with them May 13, said Hans Meyer, an immigration lawyer who is handling her case and Garcia’s.
“This is a really good sign,” Meyer told the crowd. “I think we have a really good chance of having these applications approved.”
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carefully considers all requests for stays of removal,” ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said in an e-mail.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671, tmcghee@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dpmcghee
