ILLINOIS
The Beacon-News
Hannah Leone
Aurora Beacon-News
Though the ordered deportation of a former Aurora priest charged with child sex abuse has lawyers scrambling to keep him in the U.S. through his trial, it turns out the priest waived his right to appeal a federal immigration judge’s decision ordering him removed from the country and sent back to his native Colombia.
Offering little clarity on whether Alfredo Pedraza Arias will be in the country by Sept. 18, when his trial is scheduled to start, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials responded for the first time Monday to Beacon-News inquiries about his case.
Arias has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, which allege he sexually abused two girls at their Catholic church between 2012 and 2014, when both girls were younger than 6 years old. He has also waived his right to appeal a June 14 deportation order signed by a federal immigration judge, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa.
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