Ivania Rodríguez Sánchez, 24, and Karla Rodríguez Sánchez, 26, fled in 2019 with their parents, who claimed to have suffered extortion and threats from gang members in El Salvador.
On March 20, both were arrested for “exceeding their stay” and face deportation at the end of this month, despite having submitted a new asylum application.
The family is receiving support from the Church of the People in Nottingham, England, and according to Pastor Rob Gale, women fear if they are deported.
Gale said that “the kind family” is deeply dismayed by the situation.
He added that immigration officials should review the case again and described it as a “huge omission.”
The BBC understands that the couple presented new appeals, which are under consideration of the Ministry of Interior.
The asylum requests of their parents, Héctor and Raina, continue in process.
The family, which helped manage a warehouse in El Salvador, said they were approached by gang members who demanded an extortion of US $ 500 per month for “protection.”
The father of the sisters, Héctor, could not pay and the family began to receive death threats from the gang.
The family moved from a city, but, as they said, the gang found them.
But the situation took an unexpected turn when Ivania was kidnapped, which was “the drop that filled the glass” and led them to leave, Gale said.
“On one occasion, -Ivania – she was kidnapped and we still don’t know why they returned her, but from that moment they realized that they needed to leave the country.”
The family indicated that they moved to Nottingham in June 2024 from Staffordshire, England, due to problems with their accommodation.
Gale commented that an associated church in the area where they worked as volunteers contacted him to see if he could help them.
“We met them when they came to our church and we sat down to listen to their history,” said Pastor Gale.
“They prepared a suitcase each and some belongings, gathered some money and reached (the airport of) Heathrow. They really feared for their lives.”
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“They have fully integrated into the life of the Church … They are a very generous, friendly and affectionate family and has been involved and has given everything since they arrived in Nottingham.”
The family has been helping to organize groups in the Church, cleaning and preparing meals for attendees.
Gale added that the Church became more involved in the asylum process when the family’s request, which included all in the father’s request, was rejected in November last year.
After achieving a new legal representation, in January a new request for permanence was submitted for the four.
Gale commented that he believed that the request was for the whole family, but now he thinks that the Ministry of Interior only considered it as a report on the parents.
The two sisters, who are presented monthly at an immigration center in Laughborough, were arrested for “exceeding the allowed stay” on March 20.
On the same day, new individual requests were filed for Karla and Ivania, but Gale said that they “did not appear in the Interior Ministry system until April 7”.
He added that the deportation process “had already begun”, despite the fact that the legal representatives of the sisters had requested and presented several preliminary procreation letters.
Why are asylum requests so controversial?
Sánchez family argues that he has a legal right to establish himself here as refugees due to the threat they face in El Salvador.
However, asylum cases may take several years to resolve, since applicants must fight to convince the Interior Ministry to meet the criteria.
They must demonstrate that their fears are well founded – which can be difficult to prove in any case – and that they face persecution in their country of origin.
The legal definition of persecution includes being persecution of political opinions or gender, but not a general fear of crime or a conflict.
Gale states that he now expects the Ministry of Interior to review his case and that the sisters do not end on deportation flights to El Salvador scheduled for April 15 and 18.
“They currently consider them criminals who have exceeded the allowed stay limit, but this is far from being true,” he said.
“My message to the Interior Ministry is simply to reconsider all this application for humanitarian reasons; this family has not done anything wrong.”
“The limits have not been crossed, they have not been an additional load for the system. They have helped the system of our country serving in different churches and projects.”
“They have certificates from schools and are preparing to stay here. I trust that the four, with their gifts, can integrate into the lifestyle of our country,” he adds.
The deputy for Nottingham East, Nadia Whittome, said she had been pressing the Ministry of Interior to release women and described as “extremely unfair and dangerous” its return to El Salvador.
“Two young people are threatened with deportation to a country with one of the highest femicide rates in the world, where gang members have threatened their lives,” he said.
“They should not be in this situation. It is only due to administrative errors and delays, even by the Ministry of Interior, which are separated from their families, detained and could now be expelled from the country.”
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A spokesman from the Ministry of Interior declared: “Our policy for a long time is not to comment on individual cases.”