McALLEN— The South Texas nun who was detained by immigration officers final month spoke publicly for the primary time for the reason that incident and as her future within the nation stays in limbo.
Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja, a 56-year-old nun from Nigeria, was strolling the brief distance from her house to Our Woman of Sorrows to distribute the Holy Communion at Mass when she was stopped by two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on June 28.
“Even once I instructed them, ‘Can I’m going to Mass; can I simply attend Mass; can I obtain communion,’ the reply was ‘No,’” Ugboaja stated.
ICE launched Ugboaja later that day, however she now faces a check-in appointment with immigration officers on July 28.
Her lawyer, Carlos M. Garcia, stated they hope the check-in is decided to be pointless and that Ugboaja won’t should report back to ICE, in spite of everything. If she does, officers might determine to detain her once more or place an ankle monitor on her.
“We’re asking that she not be detained and that no ankle monitor be positioned on an individual who has damaged no rule, posed no hazard, and given this nation a decade of nursing and a lifetime of ministry,” Garcia stated.
Ugboaja has lived in South Texas and labored as a registered nurse at varied hospitals within the space for greater than a decade.
After information of her detention broke, federal U.S. lawmakers who symbolize the Rio Grande Valley denounced her arrest and stated they might attempt to intervene to safe her launch.
In 2019, a choose denied her request for asylum however concurrently granted her safety from elimination to Nigeria beneath the United Nations Conference Towards Torture based mostly on the discovering that it was extra seemingly than not that she can be tortured if she returned there.
However as a result of her asylum declare was denied, Ugboaja is technically beneath a ultimate order of elimination, Garcia stated.
He added that Ugboaja has completed the whole lot requested of her since that 2019 order, together with holding a sound work allow, complying with each situation of the safety order, and attending each necessary appointment with immigration officers.
In detaining her final month, officers sought to deport her to not Nigeria, however to a 3rd nation, Garcia stated.
The follow of third-country removals have been used beneath President Donald Trump’s second time period to shore up deportations of people that couldn’t legally be deported to their house nations due to the probability they might be persecuted there.
Ugboaja stated she didn’t wish to stay silent about her scenario and desires folks in comparable conditions to have the chance to inform their story earlier than they’re taken from their houses.
“I consider each particular person on this scenario, like me, deserves to be heard, deserves to be listened to, deserves to be given consideration and alternative,” she stated.
Reporting within the Rio Grande Valley is supported partially by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
This text first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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