Churches, schools no longer ‘safe spaces' from ICE for asylum seekers
Kenia Colindres thought she'd be safe going to church like she did with her family every Sunday.
However, this past Sunday, her life changed when US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested her husband, Wilson Rogelio Velasquez Cruz, during service at Iglesia Fuente de Vida in Tucker.
She told Channel 2′s Eryn Rogers in Spanish that she, Velasquez Cruz, and their three children were in church when her husband got a call.
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She says he didn't answer it and that's when his Immigration GPS ankle monitor started going off.
She says he got scared because he always charges it and wasn't sure why it would be going off.
She said she told him to go outside to check it, so he wouldn't interrupt the service.
When he went outside, ICE agents were waiting and arrested him.
Colindres said her family escaped violence in Honduras.
She said they came to America two years ago after seeking asylum at the US border.
She said that's when her husband was given an Immigration GPS ankle monitor.
ICE officials said if someone has a monitor it's for a specific reason.
However, they wouldn't say what that reason could or would be.
Officials said it's on a case-by-case basis as to what level of monitoring people have to adhere to.
Colindres said Velasquez Cruz had never been in trouble and was a man of God who didn't stray.
She said he had a work permit that was good for five years, and he was employed at a tire shop.
Now, she's worried because she said he paid all the bills while she stayed home with the kids.
Peter Tadeo with Tadeo and Silva Law said the government has a new expedited removal policy.
It targets people who've immigrated to the country recently, seeking asylum.
People who've been here less than two years are most at risk.
'That's scary for a lot of people that entered that way because most of those people haven't been here for two years,' Tadeo said.
Colindres said she doesn't know if she and her kids will be deported, too. She was able to speak with her husband on Monday.
He told her he won't be able to appeal his case to a judge and that he's being transferred to Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin before being deported.
ICE said they're not releasing how many arrests they've made in the Atlanta area yet.
However, they said they are looking to release those numbers daily in the future.
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