KARLA CORNEJO VILLAVICENCIO PHOTO
Nelson Pinos and his family inside First & Summerfield.
Last Thanksgiving Eve, an Ecuadorian-born man living in a downtown sanctuary church won a surprise reprieve and went free.
This Thanksgiving Eve, an Ecuadorian-born man living in the same downtown sanctuary church, Nelson Pinos, wasn’t as fortunate.
The Boston office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued Pinos a one-sentence notice rejecting his request for a stay of deportation, according to his supporters.
So Pinos will spend Thanksgiving and the foreseeable future continuing to be confined to the First & Summerfield Church across from the Green at the corner of College and Elm streets.
“We are outraged and appalled at ICE’s refusal to provide relief for a family man who has lived in our community for decades,” Unidad Latina en Accion (ULA) organizer Vanesa Suarez stated in a release. “This affirms our demand that ICE stay out of Connecticut so it can stop destroying immigrant families.”
ULA pledged to continue fighting for Pinos’ release along with other supporting groups such as Connecticut Immigrant Rights Alliance, CT Shoreline Indivisible, Center for Community Change, New Sanctuary CT, and Action Together CT.
Click here to read a full story about how this year of sanctuary has affected Pinos and his wife and children.