Undocumented Father of Five US-born Children Seeks Sanctuary to Avoid Deportation Trauma for Family

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is reportedly preparing to launch a monthlong campaign of raids specifically aimed at rounding up and deporting undocumented Central American mothers and children. This follows a similar campaign of raids against parents and children in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina earlier this year. While the raids have spread fear across neighborhoods, they’ve also inspired increased community organizing to stop deportationsincluding in President Obama’s very own neighborhood of Hyde Park in Chicago. As Obama nears the end of his eight years in office, he’s facing a unique legacythe president to deport more people than any other in U.S. history. But less than a mile from his and Michelle’s Chicago home, one undocumented father has decided to fight his deportation to Mexico by seeking sanctuary in a church. Jose Juan Federico Moreno has been living inside University Church now for more than a month. He has lived in the United States for 16 years and is the father of five U.S.born children. He faces deportation because he was arrested seven years ago for driving under the influence. While we were in Chicago earlier this week, Democracy Now!’s Mike Burke went over to University Church to speak to Jose Juan and his supporters, and asked what the impact would be of his deportation. "It would be a psychological trauma for my children and my wife, who are visiting me very often," says Federico Moreno.

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