On June 28, 2017, Minerva Garcia Cisneros entered Sanctuary in our church, along with her two children (both U.S. citizens). On October 2, 2017, Minerva received notice that her removal order had been VACATED by an Immigration Judge in Texas (where her original case had been filed in 2001). This means Immigration and Customs Enforcement has no case against her, and she is FREE! Minerva left Sanctuary, stood outside in plain view, went to and saw for the first time her sons’ schools. We held a press conference announcing her wonderful news, and she returned to her home in Winston Salem. Our church will take time to allow the news to settle, evaluate our program, determine our next moves.
Further update, January 2018: ICE began a new case against Minerva. She was fitted for an ankle monitor, and give a court date of sometime in November. She has to go to an ICE office in Charlotte monthly to check in.
In the meantime. we will support the two other people in Sanctuary in North Carolina, we will continue to speak at and support churches who are contemplating how their can help with Sanctuary, and we’ll keep smiling, knowing that Minerva no longer risks immediate deportation. She joins the ranks of millions of other people who live and work and pay taxes in our country, but who live in constant fear of arrest and quick deportation.
This is an audio recording of the press conference when we announced that we had taken Minerva Garcia into Sanctuary. And this is a link to our church’s Facebook page where you can view a video recording of the press conference when we announced that Minerva case had been vacated and she was free to return home. We are grateful to Fusion Films for providing us this video – they are a wonderful company!
The rest of this page contains links to some of the things we did for Minerva, Sanctuary at our church, and general information about Sanctuary. The titles are descriptive. Enjoy!
How can you help Minerva?
- A Concert for Juana & Minerva will raise funds to support these two brave women in sanctuary, their families, and sanctuary in NC.
- Sign her petition to ICE – tinyurl.com/minervapetition
- Give money to church to assist our efforts – checks to church, memo “sanctuary”, or go to our give page, click here on the give page, and there is a category for Sanctuary.
- Sign up to host a shift – tinyurl.com/cucchosts
- Sign up to help – tinyurl.com/cucchelperscucc
- Write a letter to ICE, to Senators Tillis and/or Burr, to Representatives Walker and/or Budd.
newsletter2017-07 – This has a lot of current info about Sanctuary, including about Minerva and her family
There is a sermon Julie preached for Pentecost Sunday, that will give you a sense of what she thinks about Sanctuary.
Here are advocacy suggestions. HOW WE CAN HELP MINERVA bulletin insert 07-02-17