In Colorado, immigrant rights leader Sandra Lopez is leaving sanctuary today after spending 10 months living in the parsonage of the Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist church in Carbondale while she fights her deportation to Mexico. She’s lived in Colorado for 17 years and is the mother of three U.S.-born children: Alex, Edwin and Areli. In a statement, Lopez said, “My attorneys have talked with ICE, and it confirmed that I am not a priority for removal at this time. We continue to seek a positive resolution to my case through the court system and are awaiting a decision from the Board of Immigration Appeals.” This is Sandra Lopez, speaking with Democracy Now! from inside the parsonage of the Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist church in Carbondale, Colorado, in January.
Sandra Lopez: “I wasn’t willing to be arrested, because they’re uprooting me from my home, from my children, from my life, from my future. How am I going to want to go into such a situation, as if nothing were happening? No. I made the valiant decision to go into sanctuary, to opt for sanctuary. It’s not an easy decision. And I am here avoiding deportation so that I can be with my children.”
Click here to see our full interview with Sandra Lopez.