“We are here to bear witness that the immigration policies of this country are immoral,” said Alvin Herring, executive director of Faith in Action, a national umbrella group that encompasses the DMV sanctuary network. At Wednesday’s event, faith leaders from Jewish, Muslim, and Christian denominations declared an urgent need for individuals to actively resist the Trump administration’s deportation agenda.
“We change it with our bodies,” said Herring. “That is why we are here today.”
Since the founding of the Sanctuary Congregations Network in March of 2017, Perez says, the group has stopped a dozen deportations. Gutiérrez’s case is similar to many other undocumented people who, despite having orders of deportation, were previously considered low-priority by ICE under the Obama administration. These immigrants often attended annual check-ins with ICE without issue.
For Gutiérrez, all that changed in 2017, when ICE gave her an ankle monitor and asked her to come back every two weeks, according to Perez. At a recent check-in, Gutiérrez was ordered to self-deport, Perez said. Gutiérrez came to the United States in December 2005, seeking asylum from her native El Salvador, where her lawyer says members of her family have been killed by gang violence.
