Beloved Long Island church worker faces possible deportation after immigration program ends
A community on Long Island is waiting to hear if a Nicaraguan church member and his family will deported after
the humanitarian immigration program they were admitted to was terminated
.
Half a million legal immigrants from Nicaragua, Venezuela, Haiti and Cuba were enrolled in
the United States humanitarian parole program
, but now, their temporary status in the U.S. has suddenly been revoked by the Department of Homeland Security.
The Trump administration says there was, and is, broad abuse of the program at the expense of taxpayers.
"Husbands and wives with their children, elderly people who came here through a lawful mean authorized by the U.S. government are being told that if they don't leave within 30 days, they will be arrested and detained," immigration attorney Martin Rosenaw said.
Yader Salgado graduated from Northport High School in 1997 as an exchange student, then returned to his native Nicaragua. Last June, he was granted two years of work status under
the U.S. humanitarian parole program
, and Salgado and his wife came back to Northport.
They joined Trinity Episcopal Church and began working there, quickly becoming beloved members of the community.
"While he and his wife are cleaning, cleaning the bathrooms, the hallway, you'll hear them singing with each other," Father Andrew Garnett said.
But tunes turned bleak over the weekend.
"Suddenly, we just get this letter saying that we need to the country before April 24," Salgado said.
Garnett posted the news on Instagram.
"Around here, [people are] crying, weeping. He's only been here ten months, but he's become part of the family," Garnett said.
"I didn't know there was, there was so much love among the people of Northport and, like, my church community," Salgado said.
"Yader is the American dream. This is someone we should all – left, right, center – be rallying around," Garnett said.
Salgado applied for asylum and has been told he cannot legally be detained until his case is presented before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
"We don't know how that's gonna to end," Salgado said.
Now, the community is waiting, and wondering.
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