A farm worker and community leader from Sodus will be allowed to stay in the U.S. while her case for asylum will move forward with an application to be filed at a July 24th court date.
Before her court hearing Wednesday afternoon at the Buffalo Detention Center in Batavia, Dolores Bustamante gathered with her supporters in front of the facility on Federal Drive.
“We have more time to prepare ourselves and for me to be with my daughter and to keep fighting, not just for me, but all the others going through this too,” says Bustamante.
“We hope there is some kind of relief for all of us who are in this situation”
At Wednesday’s rally in support, a group of people from Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo joined Bustamante holding signs and sharing a few words before she walked into her Immigration hearing with 10 supporters and her attorney Jose Perez.
After about 30 minutes, Bustamante emerged from the detention facility on foot with her supporters in tow.
“They couldn’t deport her today, even though the government wanted to move forward today,” says Jose Perez, Bustamante’s attorney.
“The Judge declined to do that based on the motion that we requested, which is to apply for asylum in July.”
The trial will now have a new court date.
“In the meantime, we will be filing a motion to suppress evidence on a Constitutional violation that she suffered in the hands of police when she was transferred to immigration for no other reason than being Latina.”
Bustamante was stopped by a State Trooper for a minor traffic violation in 2014 and was turned over to immigration authorities. Since then she has worried about being deported and being separated from her daughter who lives in the U.S.
Bustamante says she came to the U.S. with her daughter after fleeing a domestic abuse situation.