Dozens arrested after ICE detains undocumented man living in Durham church for 11 months

Samuel Oliver-Bruno sought to defer his deportation to Mexico after living in the United States for more than 22 years.

Oliver-Bruno arrived at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Morrisville on Friday morning for an appointment, joined by his 19-year-old son, Daniel Oliver-Perez; a pastor at CityWell United Methodist Church, Cleve May; and other members of the clergy.

May said once Oliver-Bruno completed paperwork, he and Oliver-Perez went to a line to be processed while May and clergy members stayed in a waiting room.

That’s when ICE agents tackled Oliver-Bruno, May said.

“The next thing we know, several men jumped him, and Daniel clung to his father, and they were choking Daniel and trying to pull him off,” May said. “All of us who were in there ran back to where that interaction was happening. We all stood in the way of the doorway. We were all pushed roughly and repeatedly but continued to get in the way.”

Oliver-Perez, who is a citizen born in the U.S., was arrested and charged with assaulting a government employee; law enforcement officials said he assaulted an ICE officer.

While he was being escorted away from the USCIS building, Oliver-Perez said he tried to stop officers from taking his father. Oliver-Perez said in the scuffle that officers choked him.

Edgar Vergara Millan, a pastor at New Creation Methodist Church in Durham, said Oliver-Perez was trying to protect his father.

"You see your father, who needs to be here in this nation to care for his dying mother, being detained and being pushed and shoved, with the very likely possibility that he will be deported quickly," Vergare Millan said. "Any one of us would react defensively."

Millan and others said Oliver-Bruno was the sole source of support for his wife, Julia Perez Pacheco, who has Lupus and other serious medical conditions, and lives in Greenville.

Oliver-Bruno came to the attention of immigration authorities in 2014, when he was detained by Border Patrol as he tried to enter the United States after a visit to Mexico. He was released on a "Stay of Removal" to care for his ailing wife.

Vergara Millan's mother was one of those arrested. She and others arrested have no regrets, he said.

"They did so out of a sense of humanity, human dignity, human decency, but also out of a sense of faith" he said. "Whatever repercussions they face, they do so out of a sense of, we are human beings."

North Carolina Congressmen G.K. Butterfield and David Price, both Democrats, echoed that sentiment. They had supported deferred action from deportation for Oliver-Bruno. In a statement released Friday night, the Congressmen said:

"We are extremely alarmed by Samuel Oliver-Bruno’s abrupt arrest this morning ...

"It’s clear that while Mr. Oliver-Bruno was attempting to follow the law in pursuit of his legal petition, ICE coordinated with USCIS to target him upon his leaving the CityWell United Methodist Church.

“Samuel, his wife Julia, and his 19-year-old son Daniel have been productive and upstanding members of the community for many years, with no serious criminal records and deep ties in the faith community."

Oliver-Bruno has lived in sanctuary in the CityWell United Methodist Church for 11 months. ICE traditionally has not arrested people inside a church, hospital or school because of its sensitive location policy.

Durham church offers sanctuary to man facing deportation

“Samuel’s sudden and inappropriate arrest in the middle of the Thanksgiving season reflects the callous and cruel approach we’ve come to expect from the Trump administration," the Democratic Congressmen said in their statement. "As Members of Congress representing the Durham community, we will continue to do everything in our power to keep the Oliver-Bruno family together."

May said he knew it was possible for ICE officials to arrest Oliver-Bruno at the USCIS appointment, an appointment that an ICE spokesman said would have been made at his request.

Oliver-Bruno was trying to go through the process to become a legal resident.

“This was a bait-and-switch,” May said. “A legal process was put into place that was used as the bait to pull Samuel out of sanctuary.”

Outside the USCIS building, he and other protesters formed a human wall around the van Oliver-Bruno was placed in, keeping him and officials from leaving for about two hours.

"I hope the world sees this," May said. "They're choosing to show exactly how dehumanizing their agency is. They're choosing to engage in tactics that are devious, to say it lightly."

May and 25 other protesters were arrested and charged with failing to disperse on command. Many of the protesters were members of CityWell.

After he was released, May criticized Oliver-Bruno's detainment.

"It's for our entire nation to ask, 'Do we really want to live in a country where we could be told by our government that there is a process to follow in order to pursue legal avenues, but in following that process, you can be detained, you can be surprise attacked, jumped?'" he said. "That's what happened today. That is a question about our democracy at its root."

ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said Oliver-Bruno was first arrested in May 2014 in Texas while trying to enter the United States with fraudulent identity documents. Court appeals found that he "has no legal basis to remain in the U.S.," Cox said.

In a statement, the Morrisville Police Department said officers, trying to de-escalate the situation, gave two orders to disperse and warned protesters who didn't move could be arrested.

An ICE official said individuals detained in North Carolina are traditionally sent to a detention facility in Georgia.

One protest leader called for civil disobedience, and others said Friday night that they would try to block Oliver-Bruno being transported from Wake County to his next location.