Erick Velazquillo didn’t do anything wrong.
One night driving home from the gym, he got pulled over in Matthews, North Carolina for driving with his high beams on. After telling the officer that his ID was in his gym bag, the police officer asked to search Erick’s car. Upon finding it and seeing a surname, the officer assumed Erick was giving him false information. He was arrested for driving without a license and giving fictitious information to an officer (the latter charge was dropped). He spent three days in jail before his family was able to pay his immigration bond. Erick left humiliated, being treated like a criminal.
Erick, now 22, came to the US when he was two years old. On July 19, a judge in immigration court in Charlotte, North Carolina might send him back to somewhere he doesn’t remember. As an athlete and aspiring nutritionist, Erick has every desire to stay and live as the American he already is.
In North Carolina, undocumented immigrants can no longer get drivers licenses. Those who have them will soon see them expire and will be unable to have them renewed, leaving them vulnerable to dragnet programs like 287(g) and Secure Communities. Despite the new guidelines for “prosecutorial discretion,” there are no guarantees that ICE field offices will follow them or that undocumented youth will stop ending up in deportation proceedings.
It’s time to take action. It’s time to drop the fear.
States in the South are doing their best to stop you from going to public universities and community colleges. In North Carolina, a cowardly legislator tried to discourage parents from enrolling their undocumented children in public school, to which they have a constitutionally protected right. If they are willing to attack children, where will they draw the line?
Erick should stay here in his home, and so should every undocumented youth who grew up here and calls this country their home. He’s taken the bold step of coming out of the shadows, and you should do the same.
Help Erick stay home by signing his petition. But don’t stop there. Yesterday, six young people in Georgia stepped up, got arrested and fought for their dreams. It is time for youth all across the South to fight where so many thought it was impossible.