Portland Pastor on Housing Illegal Immigrant: 'The Church is a Place Without Borders;' Labor Leader Faces Deportation
A labor leader who sought refuge in a Portland church was arrested on Thursday and a community, including several members of the clergy and the mayor, have spoken out and asked for him not to be deported.
Francisco Aguirre, originally from El Salvador, took refuge in the Augustana Lutheran Church for the first time since September in order to attend a court hearing on a drunk driving charge. He was immediately taken into federal custody and charged with illegally entering the United States before entering a guilty plea in the drunk driving case. Aguirre now faces deportation back to El Salvador.
"A church is a place without borders," pastor Mark Knutson told KATU News. "It allows people to be, and to sort things out, without guns, without coercion."
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The Augustana Lutheran Church is one of several across the country that offers sanctuary to illegal immigrants. Portland Mayor Charlie Hales addressed a crowd gathered in support of Aguirre and said that he was "an important voice on the issues of equality and immigration rights."
"He clearly loves this community and fights to make it better," Hales added. "And for this, we are grateful. This case, and the way it has been handled, is a glaring example of why [immigration] reform is needed right now."
Other supporters at the vigil issued a statement of support for Aguirre, as did the executive director of the immigrants-rights organization VOZ.
"Since he took sanctuary, Francisco has been surrounded by love and an outpouring of support from the mayor to the day laborers whose rights he's defended. Instead of honoring his place in our community, ICE looked for a backdoor way to put him in detention and found it with the U.S. district attorney. Of all the things to pursue in the state of Oregon, a labor leader shouldn't be one of them," Romeo Sosa said.
Aguirre decided to risk deportation to show his dedication to the legal process by showing up at the courthouse, even though he knew he could be detained by federal agents. He reportedly arrived at the courthouse accompanied by religious leaders and members of the community.
"I'm here to show I'm willing to comply with the law but at the same time I'm asking all those authorities … to comply with the law. Here I am, doing the right thing. Doing what they ask me to do. They say, 'Francisco needs to show up at court.' Here I am. I'm not hiding. I'm a father. I'm a community organizer. This is where I belong," he told the crowd.
