Immigrant who lived in church loses bid to avoid deportation

RALEIGH, N.C. – Two congressmen say a Mexican immigrant who had sought refuge in a North Carolina church has been rejected in a formal request to stay in the U.S. to support his family.

U.S. Reps. G.K. Butterfield and David Price announced late Monday that Samuel Oliver-Bruno’s petition for deferred deportation was denied.

It’s not clear when he may be removed from the U.S. Online records listed him as being in a Georgia detention centre Tuesday morning. Federal immigration officials have said the 47-year-old has no legal basis to be in the U.S.

Oliver-Bruno was at an immigration office last week to pursue that application when he was detained. The congressmen say he left the church after 11 months because immigration officials told him to have his fingerprints taken as part of the application.