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TexasTowelie

(117,532 posts) Sat Jun 13, 2015, 12:19 AM Jun 2015

Facing Possible Death If She's Deported to Guatemala, Lesbian Takes Refuge At Texas Church [View all]

A lesbian who faces possible death if she's deported to Guatemala has taken refuge at a Unitarian Universalist Church in Austin, Texas.

Sulma Franco, 31, suffered violence as an LGBT activist in Guatemala before she fled in 2009. She was initially granted asylum in the US, but an attorney failed to keep her paperwork current.

The Texas Tribune reports that Franco moved into a makeshift apartment at the church on Thursday:

Guatemala2If federal immigration agents want to send Sulma Franco back to Guatemala, they will have to get through the Rev. Chris Jimmerson and other worshipers at Austin’s First Unitarian Universalist Church.

“We will resist it. We will invite a bunch of people with their yellow T-shirts to try and stand between [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and Sulma,” Jimmerson said, referring to gear the church's immigrant-rights supporters wear. “This is private church property, and it’s a tradition that law enforcement, including ICE, don’t {enter}.”

More from The Austin Statesman:

For a time, she said, she lived and worked freely in the Austin area, even gaining a license to operate a Guatemalan food truck that provided her with income. But last year, she said her lawyer failed to turn in documentation to immigration authorities and she was detained during a regular check-in to monitor her progress.

She was sent to a detention center in Arizona for nine months. Thursday marked her deportation date, but instead of turning herself in to immigration authorities in San Antonio, Franco is seeking refuge in the North Austin church.