FAYETTEVILLE -- Immigration officials Tuesday allowed a Bentonville pastor and her husband who overstayed their visas in 2001 but regularly checked in with authorities to stay in the country at least a little while longer.
A crowd of about 30 supporters and church members of the Bentonville Church of the Nazarene gathered outside an inconspicuous brick building in north Fayetteville to see Rev. Amanda Aristondo and her husband, Jose, turn themselves in to Immigration and Customs Enforcement at exactly 9 a.m. They emerged smiling less than an hour later to cheers.
Fayetteville attorney Nathan Bogart said the couple applied for a temporary stay of removal, a renewable delay that has allowed them to stay since they came to immigration officials' attention in 2008 but requires returning to the office every several months. If the application's denied, they'll be told when to return and possibly be detained and deported.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Amanda Aristondo said to the crowd.
Bogart said immigration officials told him they were encouraging immigrants without visas to leave the country on their own. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment.
Such check-ins have become more tense around the country as President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly have announced plans to hire thousands more immigration officers and enlist local police departments to help enforce immigration law.
Anyone suspected of wrongdoing, which could include the misdemeanor of illegally entering the country, can now be given priority for deportation. Former President Barack Obama's policy concentrated officers' resources on gang members and others convicted of serious crimes.
A Mexican mother of two U.S.-born children in Phoenix was detained and deported in February after regularly seeing immigration authorities for eight years much as the Aristondos have, sparking protests in the city. A Mississippi woman who was brought into the country when she was 7 and had been granted temporary protection under an Obama program Trump has kept in place was also arrested and ordered deported, though she was later released.
The scene in Fayetteville was quiet, with no chanting or shouting. Supporters held signs citing scriptural commands to protect foreigners and love neighbors and circled in prayer once the couple went in the building. Many described Amanda Aristondo, who leads the Bentonville church's Hispanic service, as warm and devoted to her congregants.
"We're going to stand with them every step of the way," said Mark Snodgrass, lead pastor at the church.
The Aristondo family came from Guatemala, one of several Central American countries where gang violence, often targeting children, has propelled murder rates to some of the world's highest. Amanda Aristondo described feeling fear wherever she and her family went and said, "That feeling, I didn't want that for my girls."
The couple's children have been granted the temporary protection that started under Obama for childhood arrivals and are attending college, according to the church and Mireya Reith, director of Arkansas United Community Coalition.
NW News on 03/15/2017