Jamaican asylum seekers hiding in Philadelphia church free after 843 days, in ‘Christmas miracle’

The couple sought asylum in the US after a Jamaican gang threatened to kill them

Protesters rally in front of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters, demanding the release of immigrants in ICE detention due to the dangers posed by the coronavirus pandemic July 17, 2020 in Washington, DC.  ((Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images))

An undocumented Jamaican couple who spent more than two years hiding out in a series of Philedelphia churches could soon walk free, after the US reportedly dropped its deportation case against the aslyum seekers.  

Clive and Oneita Thompson, who fled Jamaica after a gang burned their farm and threatened to kill them, have been sheltering in churches in the Philadelphia area since August 2018, seeking to escape the imminent deportation proceedings against them. But now the couple and their legal advocates say Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has moved to drop the case, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“I’m joyful, a joyful moment, with tears,” Clive, 61, told the paper. “Here we are, walking out of the church,. We’re going to go back and live the American dream.”

After leaving Jamaica in 2004, the couple unsuccessfully sought legal asylum in the US, but were allowed to remain in the country for nearly two decades, where they worked, paid taxes, and raised children who were legal US residents and citizens.

An ICE spokesperson told The Independent  that the couple overstayed their terms of admission to the US by nearly 14 years, and an immigration judge ordered their removal in 2009, after which the agency gave them multiple stays of removal to allow them to make departure arrangements. 

They stayed in the country despite a series of unsuccessful appeals, until, according to the family and their legal advocates, the Newark Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, which represents ICE in the Thompson’s removal proceedings, moved to end the case.

Now that their case is on hold, they can once again seek permanent residency after spending 843 days in hiding, and may be eligible to stay in the country due to their daughter Angel, an American citizen who applied to have her parents remain with her.

“Doubt was never in my mind,” Oneita told The Inquirer. “I was very afraid – afraid of losing my children, of being deported. But if I allowed doubt in my mind, I would have fallen apart. I was fearful, but not doubtful.”

With the help of an immigrants rights group called New Sanctuary Movement, the Thompsons moved into a set of Philadelphia-area churches, first the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, then later the Tabernacle United Church. Churches are generally considered sensitive locations off-limits to ICE agents.

Their case eventually attracted high-profile supporters, including Democratic senators Cory Booker and Bob Casey.

“It’s a little bit like a Christmas miracle,” the Rev. Katie Aikins, Tabernacle’s pastor, told The Inquirer.  

The family argues that it experienced extra difficulty in the immigration system because they are Black.

“As Black immigrants, we did everything right, but we still don’t get a chance. We are behind the walls of a church because we are Black,” Oneita once said.

Black immigrants make up a disproportionate number of those facing deportation on criminal grounds compared to their share of the population, according to rights groups.