Tag: Maria Chavalan Sut

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In brief: Lynching memorial installed, ICE threatens with fines, Jim Ryan’s big bucks, and more

The Equal Justice Initiative provided the marker for Court Square that details the history of lynching in America on one side and the account of John Henry James on the other. (Photo: Eze Amos)

History of lynching acknowledged

In Court Square, Albemarle County’s seat of justice, a memorial was installed July 12 to commemorate a historic injustice—the lynching of a black man on that date in 1898. A mob of white people pulled John Henry James from a train near what is now Farmington Country Club, and hanged him from a locust tree.

More than 100 people gathered for the installation of the marker from the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, where two busloads of local people journeyed a year ago to deliver soil from the lynching site. EJI’s Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice were created to acknowledge this country’s history of racial terror and its impact today.

Many of those from the pilgrimage, organized by Jefferson School African American Heritage Center director Andrea Douglas and UVA professor and activist Jalane Schmidt, attended, as did city councilors, Albemarle supervisors, and Governor Ralph Northam—who did not speak.

“It wasn’t just about the trip. It was what we did when we got home,” said Douglas. “If you want lasting change, it has to happen on every single level.”

Kiara Boone from the Equal Justice Initiative noted the importance of “truth telling” to acknowledge the pain of racial injustice and begin to repair it and heal from it. “It’s a reflection of our values, what a community chooses to memorialize,” she said.

Memorials and monuments often “tell a very one-sided, watered-down version of history,” she said at the site that holds statues of a Confederate general and a soldier. By unveiling the James marker, “we push back on that.”

Mayor Nikuyah Walker said what happened to James could still happen today. “I want you to think about a community where a man can be lynched with law enforcement present, and the fear that travels through generations as a result…and how that fear lived within the DNA of black people who walk these lands today.”

Installing the memorial is “the easiest part of the work,” she said. In changing the landscape of a community as wealthy as Charlottesville, Walker asked, “Do you do that work with the intention of understanding that there’s a debt that hasn’t been paid?”

The Equal Justice Initiative provided the marker for Court Square that details the history of lynching in America on one side and the account of John Henry James on the other.

Quote of the week

“The soil carries a story, the blood, tears, and sweat of those who were oppressed in the community.” —Kiara Boone with the Equal Justice Initiative at the installation of a marker commemorating the 1898 lynching of John Henry James

In brief

Sanctuary fine

ICE is threatening to impose a $214,000 fine on Guatemalan refugee Maria Chavalan Sut, who has lived in Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church since October while she fights deportation, the DP reports. The Reverend Isaac Collins says, “The purpose of it is to intimidate Maria and to put pressure on her.”

Ryan’s No. 2

UVA prez Jim Ryan has the second-highest salary of state employees in Virginia, according to a Richmond Times-Dispatch list of salaries. Ryan clocks in at $963,000 for his first 11 months, and follows Michael Rao, VCU president.

Another Long honor

Former Wahoo and Super Bowl champ Chris Long received the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award for his philanthropic work and leadership. Long’s First Quarter for Literacy program promotes early literacy in Charlottesville and other communities, and his Water Boys initiative has built more than 60 wells in East Africa.

Harding’s return

Attorney Elliott Harding’s first stab at getting on the ballot to challenge longtime Democratic state Senator Creigh Deeds in the 25th District was rebuffed by the Charlottesville registrar, who challenged some of the signatures Harding submitted. He appealed to the State Board of Elections, which gave him a thumbs up to be on the ballot November 5 as an independent, the Daily Progress reports. Harding is the nephew of Albemarle Sheriff Chip Harding.

Huguely motion denied

Judge Rick Moore ruled that an expert who testified in a Maryland case that George Huguely V did not intend to murder Yeardley Love in 2010 cannot be deposed by the defense in Sharon Love’s wrongful death lawsuit against Huguely, because he’s Love’s expert and Love does not intend to call him as a witness in the Charlottesville case.

Hindu sanctuary at UVA

The president of the Universal Society of Hinduism urged UVA July 13 to provide Hindu students with a “designated prayer-meditation hall for rituals, quiet reflection, festivals and spiritual exercise.” Rajan Zed, who resides in Nevada, asks that the prayer room include ceremonial Hindu objects such as an altar and statues. According to the Cav Daily, Hindu, Buddhist, and Sikh communities do not have a designated place of worship on Grounds.

Huguely motion denied

Judge Rick Moore ruled that an expert who testified in a Maryland insurance case that George Huguely V did not intend to murder Yeardley Love in 2010 cannot be deposed by the defense in Sharon Love’s wrongful death lawsuit against Huguely because he’s Love’s expert and Love does not intend to call him as a witness in the Charlottesville case. 

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Threat of ICE raids creates fear in local immigrant communities

Maria Chavalan Sut, a Guatemalan refugee, has been given sanctuary in the Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church while she fights to stay in the United States. Photo by Eze Amos

Although President Trump walked back his order to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct mass roundups of migrant families in major U.S. cities over the weekend, the delay did nothing to forestall the anxiety already created in the local immigrant community. 

The raids were postponed to allow talks between the White House and Democrats in Congress after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Trump.

Priscilla Mendenhall with Charlottesville-area Immigrant Resource and Advocacy Coalition is skeptical about the delay.

“It’s designed to further terrorize children and families and whole communities,” she says. “It’s deliberately manipulative. It’s cruel. I think it’s very intentional.” 

She believes the mass roundups are tied to Trump’s reelection campaign. “This kind of action on his administration’s part furthers a narrative about immigrants that’s dehumanizing, criminalizing, and one that’s recurring in American history.” 

CIRAC and other immigrant advocacy groups are calling upon local law enforcement to not cooperate with ICE.

The Trump administration is targeting  “vulnerable Virginia residents that might’ve fallen through the cracks in their court case for reasons beyond their control,” says Luis Oyola with Legal Aid Justice Center. “We are calling on localities to refuse to assist ICE in their operations.”

Charlottesville Sheriff James Brown says his office has no intention of participating in ICE raids because it’s a federal operation, and the people targeted don’t have state or local offenses.

Oyola offers this advice to Virginia residents: “You do not have to open the door for ICE and you should demand to see a judge’s signature on a criminal warrant.”

Charlottesville’s most high-profile asylum-seeker is Maria Chavalan-Sut, who has taken sanctuary at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church since October while she fights her deportation order through the court.

Before the raids were postponed, the church’s Pastor Isaac Collins urged ICE agents in the state who “are spending Sunday tearing families apart” to quit their jobs. “Walk away from this evil work, repent of these actions, make reparations to the migrant community, and I will help you find new work,” says Collins.

He also calls upon “every church in Virginia to offer sanctuary to undocumented migrants.”

Lana Heath de Martinez, a faith leader and organizer with the national sanctuary movement, notes that the majority of people targeted are indigenous to North America. “It is actually reminiscent of the Trail of Tears and other efforts to forcibly remove Native American folks and First Nations people.” she says. “This is a continuation of our disgraceful history and should be recognized as such.”

Mendenhall pledges resistance and support for migrant residents. “This community really shows what a small place can do when we come together.” 

ICE spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell did not respond to phone calls from C-VILLE.

Updated 11:30am June 24

Updated 3:46pm with Sheriff James Brown’s response.

Original story

President Trump’s order to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct mass roundups of migrant families in major U.S. cities, reportedly on Sunday, has created anxiety in the local immigrant community. Activists say raids have already occurred in Washington, D.C.

“Definitely in D.C. and we’ve heard raids are happening in northern Virginia,” says Priscilla Mendenhall with Charlottesville-area Immigrant Resource and Advocacy Coalition. “Whether or not we have raids, the fear they’re invoking here is real.”

CIRAC and other immigrant advocacy groups are calling upon local law enforcement to not cooperate with ICE.

The Trump administration is targeting  “vulnerable Virginia residents that might’ve fallen through the cracks in their court case for reasons beyond their control,” says Luis Oyola with Legal Aid Justice Center. “We are calling on localities to refuse to assist ICE in their operations.”

According to Oyola, Charlottesville Sheriff James Brown says his office has no intention of participating in ICE raids. C-VILLE Weekly was unable to immediately reach Brown.

Oyola offers this advice to Virginia residents: “You do not have to open the door for ICE and you should demand to see a judge’s signature on a criminal warrant.”

Charlottesville’s most high-profile asylum-seeker is Maria Chavalan-Sut, who has taken sanctuary at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church since October while she fights her deportation order through the court.

The church’s Pastor Isaac Collins urges ICE agents in the state who “are spending Sunday tearing families apart” to quit their jobs. “Walk away from this evil work, repent of these actions, make reparations to the migrant community, and I will help you find new work,” says Collins.

He also calls upon “every church in Virginia to offer sanctuary to undocumented migrants.”

Lana Heath de Martinez, a faith leader and organizer with the national sanctuary movement, notes that the majority of people targeted are indigenous to North America. “It is actually reminiscent of the Trail of Tears and other efforts to forcibly remove Native American folks and First Nations people.” she says. “This is a continuation of our disgraceful history and should be recognized as such.”

ICE spokeswoman Carissa Cutrell did not immediately respond to phone calls from C-VILLE.

Correction: Lana Heath de Martinez was misidentified in the original story, as was Priscilla Mendenhall.

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Local church offers sanctuary to refugee

Maria Chavalan Sut, a Guatemalan refugee, has been given sanctuary in the Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church while she fights to stay in the United States. Photo by Eze Amos

A Guatemalan woman who fled to America seeking asylum in 2015 has been ordered by federal immigration agents to leave the country. But instead, a local church has given her sanctuary while she fights to stay in the United States through the legal system.

“I have lived all of my life with violence,” said 44-year-old Maria Chavalan Sut in a press release. “My children are the reason I am fighting. I want them to live without all of the suffering I have experienced. Living in the church—this is the first time I can breathe, the first time I can sleep, the first time I have not felt afraid.”

Sut, from Guatemala’s indigenous Kaqchikel community, came to Virginia in 2015 after she was pressured to sell her Guatemala City property to a local group. When she refused, they set her home on fire with her entire family inside it, she says. But even before that, she says, she bore witness to the violence of the Guatemalan civil war, during which her uncles and cousins were buried alive.

Because she’s a member of a persecuted ethnic group, her attorney, Alina Kilpatrick, says she has a good case for being granted asylum in the United States—but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement—or ICE—isn’t giving her the chance.

Kilpatrick says Sut received a notice to appear in court after passing an interview at the border, but the federal immigration agents didn’t include a date or time to appear, resulting in a judge ordering her deportation in her absence. Supporters reached out to Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church in Charlottesville, seeking a safe space for Sut to stay. The congregation agreed within 24 hours.

As Sut waits in her small apartment filled with flowers, a motion to reopen her case is pending before an immigration judge in Arlington. And Pastor Isaac Collins says she’s welcome to say in their safe space for as long as she needs to.

“Maria is no longer alone in this country,” he said at an October 8 press conference attended by dozens of clergy and other supporters. “In Christ, there are no borders, there is only the kingdom.”

Speaking through an interpreter, Sut smiled shyly as she told her story, and apologized when she became emotional. She said she is not currently working, but her goal is to send money to her family in Central America to help support her four children, and to help rebuild their home that was destroyed in the fire.

Andrea Negrete, an organizer with ICE Out of Cville, says Sut’s return to Guatemala is not an option.

“In Maria’s case, deportation is a death sentence,” she says.

When asked what keeps ICE from busting into the church and detaining Sut, Kilpatrick answered flatly, “nothing.” Except for a “sensitive locations” memo from the Obama administration, which asks, but doesn’t require, that immigration agents don’t make arrests in locations such as churches, schools, and hospitals.

The attorney also represents Abbie Arevalo-Herrera, who has lived in a Richmond church since June, and said taking on these sanctuary clients is her way of standing up to the current administration.

As she wrapped up her comments on Columbus Day—now officially recognized as Indigenous Peoples Day in Charlottesville—Kilpatrick added, “I am here to make reparations for what my ancestors have done.”