Family of immigrant in sanctuary asks for mercy

Arturo Hernandez seems like a prime candidate for President Barack Obama’s new deferred action program that will allow millions of undocumented immigrants to stay and work in the United States.

The 42-year-old has been living in Colorado for the past 15 years, has been working as a contractor laying floor tile and has not been convicted of a crime. He also has two daughters, one of whom was born here and is a U.S. citizen.

Despite meeting the criteria for Obama’s deportation relief, Hernandez might not qualify because of a longstanding deportation order against him.

“I felt frustrated knowing that I meet all the requirements but might not qualify just because I have the deportation order,” Hernandez said in an interview with VOXXI, describing how he felt after hearing Obama announce his executive actions on immigration.

SEE ALSO: Immigrant in sanctuary waiting for Obama to act on immigration

Hernandez and his family watched the president’s televised speech last month from the basement room of a church in Denver. Hernandez has been living in that room since Oct. 21 to avoid being deported to Mexico. He said he hoped to return home to his family once Obama announced his executive actions on immigration. Now, it’s uncertain whether or not that’ll happen any time soon.

But his wife and two daughters are not giving up. They traveled to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to ask that Hernandez be allowed to stay and qualify for Obama’s deportation relief. They plan to spend the next two days meeting with immigration officials from the Department of Homeland Security as well as congressional leaders to ask for mercy.

“They’ll be asking for help to stop my deportation and to keep our family together,” Hernandez said. “I hope that’ll help us with my case.”

Joining Hernandez’s wife and daughters at the nation’s capital will be several faith leaders and the family members of other undocumented immigrants who’ve also sought sanctuary in churches all across the country.

The trip comes as Obama continues traveling across the country to discuss the steps he’s taking to fix the nation’s broken immigration system in the face of inaction by Congress. The president latest trip occurred Tuesday when he traveled to Nashville, which is home to one of the country’s fastest growing immigrant populations.

SEE ALSO: Immigrants in Western states benefit from Obama’s executive action

Hernandez said there are many undocumented immigrants across the country who, like him, came to the U.S. seeking a better life. Hernandez and his wife came to the U.S. with their 3-month-old daughter using visas in 1999. They made Denver their home and had a second daughter.

But in 2010, Hernandez was arrested and put in deportation proceedings after a co-worker claimed that Hernandez assaulted him. Hernandez was found innocent after a three-day trial, but the deportation order was not dropped. Since then, Hernandez has been fighting to stay in the country.

On Wednesday, his attorney will petition for his case to be reopened. A response from immigration officials could come as early as Friday. In the meantime, Hernandez said he plans to stay at the church. He added that he hopes he’ll soon be able to return home.

“I see my family every day, but it’s not the same,” he said. “I want nothing more than to go back to living a normal life.”

(function(d, s, id) {

var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];

if (d.getElementById(id)) return;

js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;

js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=313098648827735&version=v2.0”;

fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);

}(document, “script”, “facebook-jssdk”));

The post Family of immigrant in sanctuary asks for mercy appeared first on Voxxi.