Star FL Student Free, Still to be Deported
Thanks to legislative lobbying by fellow teens, a star Miami student has been released from jail and expects to start college later this month in a local honors program.
However, this is only a temporary reprieve for Colombian-born Juan Gomez, 18, and his brother, Alex, 19, who still are scheduled for deportation this year as illegal immigrants, reports the Miami Herald. The two, who came to this country with their parents when they were toddlers, are now part of a national movement to change immigration laws to allow children who grew up in this country but are not citizens a pathway to legal residency.
The brothers’ continued residency in the U.S., however, is far from certain: Although U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Miami), among others, is trying to help them find a legal way to stay, there is a national wave of anti-immigrant sentiment to contend with, says Art Estopiñán, her chief of staff. ”Folks are very upset with the issue of illegals residing in the United States,” he tells the Herald, based on “national security concerns and other concerns.”
Earlier ABAJournal.com posts detailed the brothers’ plight and subsequent efforts by some 1,500 friends and well-wishers to lobby federal and state legislators to try to change the law under which they are to be deported.
