An undocumented man arrested after leaving the shrine to travel to the US immigration office, activists say

An undocumented immigrant who has sought refuge in a church in North Carolina for more than a year was arrested on Friday while leaving the church for a meeting at the office. United States immigration.

Samuel Oliver-Bruno, a 47-year-old Mexican national, had recently filed a deferred action petition and was complying with a "procedural biometrics appointment for a background check" with the US Citizenship and Immigration Bureau. Immigration to Morrisville, North Carolina, when he was arrested, according to a statement from the Migrant Defense Group Alerta Migratoria NC.

He lives in the basement of the CityWell United Methodist Church in Durham since late 2017, the Raleigh-based newspaper The News and Observer reported.

According to Alerta Migratoria, Oliver-Bruno was surrounded by US judicial and immigration police officers, "just minutes" after entering the USCIS office. He was accompanied by his 19-year-old son, his immigration lawyers, and clergy and community members. . He was then "forced" into a van at the back of the building, but his supporters, who were waiting in front of the office, "rushed to block the vehicle," said the rights group.

Protesters who blocked the van were arrested, a spokeswoman for the Morrisville Police Department told ABC News.

Travis Long / The News & Observer via AP

Officers called to the scene tried to warn the group surrounding the van that they would be arrested for obstruction if they did not disperse, the spokeswoman said. Twenty-seven people, including Pastor Citywell Cleve May, were arrested after refusing to surrender, the police said.

"They did not want to move in front of the truck," the spokeswoman said. "Our police officers had to put them under arrest for not giving [the van] the right of way. "

Some members of the crowd leaned on the hood of the van, as shown in a video posted on the Facebook page of Alerta Migratoria.

A woman from the Wake County Sheriff's Office – the law enforcement office that presided over the church's protest scene – declined to comment on ABC News.

Casey Toth / The News and the Observer / TNS via Newscom

A spokesman for ICE told ABC News that Oliver-Bruno had been arrested as part of a "targeted enforcement action."

"Mr. Oliver-Bruno is a recognized criminal who has benefited from all the judicial procedures provided for by federal law, has no pending appeal and has no legal basis for remaining in the United States", said Bryan Cox, director of communications for ICE Southern Region, said in a statement.

Oliver-Bruno's son, Daniel Oliver-Perez, was among the arrested protesters, reported ABC Raleigh-Durham's subsidiary, WTVD. Oliver-Perez is an American citizen, reported The News and Observer.

Oliver-Bruno was taken to the ICE office in Cary, North Carolina, the rights group said, adding that the detention had put his life in danger.

"If he's deported, Samuel fears for his life," said Migratoria in a statement. "In case of deportation, Samuel will be sent back to Veracruz State, where his family has recently faced threats and is constantly threatened by drug cartels.In case of expulsion, ICE will deliver Samuel at risk. and at death, ICE does not allow us to give Samuel drugs for diabetes or insulin, which puts his life even more at risk. "

Oliver-Bruno appeared Wednesday in a video on the Facebook page of Alerta Migratoria, asking for support in Spanish for his entry into the "cave of the wolf".

In May 2014, Oliver Bruno was arrested by US Border Patrol agents in El Paso, Texas, "while he was attempting to enter US territory using fraudulent documents," he said. Cox. He was later released on parole "solely for the purpose of federal criminal prosecution" and was sentenced by the US District Court of the Western District of Texas later that month, Cox said.

Oliver-Bruno was released from the ICE custody in June 2016 and his case has since "been the subject of appeals," said Cox, adding that officials "have finally concluded that Mr. Oliver Bruno had no legal basis for staying in the United States ". I said.

USCIS had asked Oliver-Bruno to provide his fingerprints in person, a requirement for his deferred deportation application, reported The News and Observer. He left his home in Greenville to go to church last year after ICE informed him that he would no longer practice his discretion for his dismissal, the local newspaper reported. . ICE does not usually make arrests in churches, schools or hospitals.

Oliver-Bruno left Mexico in 1994 and his wife arrived in the United States two years later with a work permit, The News and Observer reported. It is unclear when and why the couple initially left the United States, but his attempt to cross the border again in 2014 was to be with his wife, who was undergoing open heart surgery in the United States, according to the newspaper.