Charlotte diocese is investigating why Our Lady of the Assumption parish priest, Fr Philip Sarcella, asked a sheriff's deputy to arrest a man selling food on church property and who is now being deported as an illegal immigrant. Carlos Ramirez, 40, identified as an illegal immigrant, is now in the process of being deported after his Nov. 15 arrest on trespassing charges at the church, The Charlotte Observer reports.
Ramirez, an unlicensed street vendor from Mexico, was selling corn-on-the-cob to parishioners following a Spanish language mass.
Church officials said Fr Scarcella was wrong to ask the deputy to arrest Ramirez without first checking with the diocese.
"A policy wasn't followed here and we really regret that Mr Ramirez was arrested," said David Hains, spokesman for the diocese. "We regret also that it looks like he's going to be deported."
Scarcella has been concerned about the safety of the food and traffic problems that arise because of the number of vendors, Hains said.
Vendors had been warned multiple times, including receiving a written notice that they could be arrested.
Ramirez told a local reporter for the Spanish-language newspaper Mi Gente that he moved to the United States to help with rebuilding efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He became a street vendor after failing to find work, according to Patricia Ortiz of Mi Gente.
Ortiz, who met with Ramirez in jail said Ramirez was almost crying about being deported.
But, Ortiz said, he says he has forgiven the priest.
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