Father, 30, whose five-year-old son is battling leukemia set to be deported, leaving behind his pregnant citizen wife and five children
- Jesus Berrones' request for an extension to remain in the US was denied by ICE
- Had previously been granted an extension in 2016 because his son has leukemia
- The 30-year-old was told last year he didn't have to refile because he wasn't a deportation priority
- He is currently taking refuge in a church in Phoenix, ICE doesn't arrest in church
- Berrones lives in Arizona with his pregnant wife and five children and is the sole breadwinner
An undocumented man from Mexico whose five-year-old son is battling cancer is battling a deportation notice by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Jesus Berrones' request for an extension to remain in the United States was denied by ICE on Thursday.
The 30-year-old lives in Glendale, Arizona with his pregnant wife and five children, and has been ordered to appear on Monday to be deported, according to the Huffington Post.
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Jesus Berrones, an undocumented man from Mexico whose five-year-old son has leukemia is battling a deportation notice after ICE told him his request for an extension to remain in the United States with his sick son was denied on Thursday
The 30-year-old lives in Glendale, Arizona with his pregnant wife and five children, and has been ordered to appear on Monday to be deported, according to the Huffington Post
Berrones has been living in the US since he was one-and-a-half, when his parents brought him here. It's not clear if he initially entered the country lawfully.
When he was 19, in 2006, he was caught driving with a fake license and deported to Mexico, his wife Sonia told the Post. He has re-entered the country illegally twice to rejoin his family, all of whom live in Arizona.
Berrones' five-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia since 2016 and is currently undergoing chemotherapy, Sonia explained. She is a US citizen and the couple were married just after the new year.
When it was first learned his son had the disease ICE granted the father, who is the family's sole breadwinner, a stay of removal so he could be with his sick child. ICE has the ability to use its discretion to grant stays in certain cases - and has done so more than once on the grounds of a sick child.
But last year, under the new Trump administration, when Berrones went to refile a stay on the same grounds officials told him it wasn't necessary because he wasn't a deportation priority, Wilkes explained.
Then last month Berrones was issued a notice from ICE that he will be deported. His lawyer refiled a request for a stay almost immediately, but it was denied.
'He's a hard-working man,' Sonia told the Post as she wept.
'We're scared. The kids will ask me: "Where's daddy?"'
Berrones took refuge at Shadow Rock United Church of Christ in Phoenix Friday (pictured) - which is one of hundreds of 'sanctuary churches' nationwide that welcome immigrants facing deportation. Immigrants are invited to live at these churches until they are no longer under threat of being kicked out of the country
Berrones took refuge at Shadow Rock United Church of Christ in Phoenix Friday - which is one of hundreds of 'sanctuary churches' nationwide that welcome immigrants facing deportation. Immigrants are invited to live at these churches until they are no longer under threat of being kicked out of the country.
ICE has recognized that churches are 'sensitive' places that they do not go to when carrying out arrests.
'We're just fulfilling our mission to provide a safe place for people, to keep families together,' Reverend Ken Heintzelman told the Post.
'We think the immigration policy and its enforcement is unjust.'
Berrones plans to stay at the church until he is granted a stay or Wilkes finds a legal solution.
That resolution might involve Wilkes filing a petition arguing Berrones didn't have the opportunity to make a case before an immigration judge the first time he was deported as a teenager in 2006.
In June the ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan said undocumented immigrants should 'look over their shoulder,' a statement characteristic the Trump administration's emphasis on cracking down on illegal immigration.
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