ISAIAH faith leader, Carlos Urrutia, was forcibly and abruptly taken by ICE in July of 2018 while his family and other ISAIAH leaders watched in horror. It has been a long 14 months of detainment for him and all of us who love him. We are very happy to report that he is currently home with his family!

Sign Petition to Keep Carlos Home


As soon as Carlos was released six weeks ago, he joined the ISAIAH’s One Body immigration work and is leading this path with others in his parish and in our state! He wrote the below statement about his experience over the past year.

Donate to Carlos’ Family’s GoFundMe

En Español – English below

Hola me llamo Carlos y soy feligrés en la iglesia de Santa Odilia en Shoreview. He estado en el estado de Minnesota por 26 años y soy papá de 3 hijos de 18, 17, y 12.

Estoy involucrado en la comunidad de mi iglesia y he sido un líder con ISAÍAS por 5 años. En este momento, yo estoy en un proceso con inmigración.

En el pasado, yo estuve detenido por 19 meses en total, hace 2 meses salí bajo fianza de Sherbourne County donde estuve por los últimos 13 meses.

Yo tuve una orden de deportación que fue cancelada por un juez de inmigración, pero luego fue apelada por un fiscal y cambiaron esa decisión contra mi.  

El Board of Immigration Appeals hizo una decisión que no ve mi dignidad humana y es basada en cosas que no son ciertas de mi. Esto no es algo que solamente me ha pasado a mi, cuando estaba en Sherbourne County conoci a muchas personas viviendo las mismas injusticias.

Después de pasar tanto tiempo en detención con ayuda legal me he podido reunir con mi familia porque un juez federal le dijo a inmigración que me dieran fianza porque mi detención era injustificada.

Con todo esto ellos quieren hacerme creer que no valgo nada, que no debería de estar aquí, pero se que yo valgo mucho y al contrario de lo que ellos piensan, yo soy poderoso y quiero cambiar este sistema que trata a los migrantes así.

La realidad es que yo todavía podría ser deportado y separado de mi familia. Por eso mientras estoy aquí me despierto en la mañana, le pido a Dios su bendición y agarro el camión y voy a mis juntas de ISAIAS y a mi iglesia y sigo aquí luchando.

Hello, my name is Carlos and I am a parishioner at St. Odilia Church in Shoreview. I have been in the state of Minnesota for 26 years and I am the father of 3 children aged 18, 17, and 12.

I am involved in the community of my church and have been a leader with ISAIAH for 5 years. Currently, I am in legal proceedings with immigration.

In the past, I was detained for a total of 19 months, 2 months ago I was able to post bail from Sherbourne County, where I was detained for the last 13 months.

I had a deportation order that was canceled by an immigration judge, but then it was appealed by a prosecutor and they changed that decision against me.

The Board of Immigration Appeals made a decision that does not see my human dignity and is based on things that are not true about me. This is not something that is only happening to me, when I was in Sherbourne County I met many people living the same injustices.

After spending so much time in detention with legal help I was able to reunite with my family because a federal judge told immigration to allow me to post bail because my detention was unjustified.

With all this they want to make me believe that I am worthless, that I shouldn’t be here, but I know that I am worth a lot and contrary to what they think, I am powerful and I want to change this system that treats immigrants in this way.

The reality is that I could still be deported and separated from my family. That’s why while I’m here I wake up in the morning, I ask God for his blessing and I take the bus and go to my ISAIAH meetings and to my church and I’m still here fighting.

His fight for dignity and justice is long from over. Because of your love and support, he’s been able to attain legal support to continue to tirelessly fight his deportation order from ICE. Carlos has lived in Minnesota over 25 years and this is his home with his wife and three children. As he continues his fight, Carlos and his lawyers are asking for your help in two important and powerful ways:

  1. Please sign this petition of support for his ability to stay in Minnesota with his family, friends and community. We need as many signatures as possible by Sunday Night at midnight!
  2. Please donate whatever you can to the family’s GoFundMe account so that they can pay his legal fees and financial obligations as they continue this final stretch to the finish line.