An Evangelical pastor in Florida who entered the United States illegally several years ago but was allowed to stay under certain conditions has been detained by authorities.
Maurilio Ambrocio, a pastor and owner of a landscaping business, was detained last month by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as part of a broader sweep championed by both state and federal officials.
Ambrocio had been living in Florida for 20 years. While he entered the country illegally, he had been allowed to remain via a stay of removal, which required that he meet with ICE officials for the last decade at least once a year, remain employed and not commit any crimes.
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However, when Ambrocio met with ICE officials on April 18, he was detained, to the surprise of his local neighborhood, as National Public Radio reported last week.
“For my kids, it’s like the world ended,” Ambrocio’s wife, Marleny, told NPR.
The couple has five children aged between 12 and 19, all U.S. citizens.
“How are we going to eat?” she asked. “How are we going to pay the bills?”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told the media agency that the pastor was in the U.S. illegally but offered no further clarification.
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has taken steps to deport large numbers of people who entered the country illegally, as well as curb the resettlement of most refugee groups.
Earlier this month, ICE announced the completion of a joint operation with Florida law enforcers that occurred April 21-26 to arrest 1,120 “criminal illegal aliens” who were residing in the state.
Known as “Operation Tidal Wave,” ICE labeled the operation the “first-of-its-kind” and claimed that the total arrests were “the largest number in a single state in one week in ICE’s history.” Not all who were detained in the raids had criminal records.
“Sixty-three percent of those arrested had existing criminal arrests or convictions,” explained ICE. “Arrests included 378 criminal illegal aliens with final orders of removal issued by an immigration judge.”
Greg Johns, a neighbor of Ambrocio’s who voted for Donald Trump, said he expected undocumented immigrants with criminal records to be deported, not someone like his neighbor.
“You’re going to take, you know, a community leader, a pastor, a hardworking man,” Johns said in an interview NPR published on Saturday. “What, did you need a number that day?”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in an announcement that his state was “proud to work closely with the Trump administration and help deliver on the 2024 mandate from America that our borders be secured and our immigration laws be followed.”
“I’ve insisted that Florida be the tip of the spear when it comes to state support of federal immigration enforcement. The success of Operation Tidal Wave is proof of our commitment,” stated DeSantis.
“We will continue to engage in broad interior enforcement efforts.”
Reacting to Ambrocio’s detention, Matthew Soerens, the vice president of advocacy and policy for the Evangelical refugee resettlement organization World Relief, stated that “mass deportations aren’t just a political question” but also “directly impact the US Church.”
“We’re already seeing it, and the potential is for a much greater impact: 10 million Christians are vulnerable to deportation,” Soerens wrote on social media.
World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals, joined other religious groups earlier this year in estimating that about four out of five “immigrants at risk of deportation” in the United States are Christians. Nearly 7 million U.S.-citizen Christians live within the same household as those who are at risk of separation, the group estimates.
