Around New England

Caravan Accompanies Guatemalan Deportable From Hospital Back To Sanctuary Church

May 27, 2018

Lucio Perez of Guatamela has been living inside First Congregational Church in Amherst, Massachusetts for seven months, but he had to go to a hospital in nearby Northampton for an emergency removal of his appendix.

Since he is a deportable illegal alien, supporters were worried immigration authorities might snatch him on his way back to the church from the hospital.

So about two dozen showed up at the hospital to escort him back to the church offering him sanctuary — including the mayor of Northampton, David Narkewicz, according to the Amherst Bulletin.

Federal immigration authorities treat churches as sensitive areas and often decline to enter them to grab illegal immigrants.