Labor activist Francisco Aguirre leaves Augustana Lutheran Church sanctuary, heads to Fairview home

Article author: 
Casey Parks
Article publisher: 
OregonLive.com
Article date: 
Friday, December 5, 2014
Article category: 
Crime
Medium
Article Body: 

Francisco Aguirre, the labor activist accused of illegally reentering the U.S. after his 2000 deportation to El Salvador, is going to his home in Fairview.

The 35-year-old Fairview resident has been living at Augustana Lutheran Church in Northeast Portland since September, when congregants took him in as part of the sanctuary movement.

Aguirre's latest troubles began Aug. 9, when he was stopped for drunken driving ...

...national and local community groups -- including Voz Worker's Rights Education Project, Jobs with Justice and Migrant Workers Collective -- banded together to raise money and support for Aguirre....

Aguirre stayed in the church until November, when he headed to the Clackamas County courthouse to face the drunken-driving charge. He was briefly jailed then returned to the church. Immigration and Customs Enforcement dropped the detainer it had placed on Aguirre. He will go to trial on the illegal reentry charge in January...

"This was no mistake," Aguirre said in a statement. "Thanks to the efforts of hundreds who protest our inhumane immigration policy I can now return home. I thank each and every person who supported our campaign, and ask them to support my brothers and sisters who are not as fortunate."