Marisol Ramos
Raul Juarez, 25, far left in red gown, was among dozens of young immigrants now in U.S. custody in Texas after trying to enter the country without documents.
A Brooklyn engineering student is one of dozens of young immigrants now in U.S. custody in Texas after trying to enter the country without documents.
Raul Juarez, 25, who dropped out of City College his junior year because he could not meet the internship requirement, then re-enrolled in Mexico, wore a red graduation gown and cap as he crossed into Laredo, Texas and presented himself Monday to immigration officials.
He’s part of a group, initially dubbed the “Dream 30,” who say they are confronting what they see as unjust immigration laws.
Ultimately, 35 immigrants crossed together. One Honduran woman, travelling with her handicapped daughter, was released late Monday, according to organizers.
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Marisol Ramos
Raul Juarez, 25
The young people – who spent most of their lives in the U.S. but were living in Mexico or Central America after either being deported or leaving on their own – are trying to come back, appealing to be let in for humanitarian reasons or to seek asylum. They face days or weeks in custody.
The action, organized by the National Immigrant Youth Alliance, follows a similar July protest at Nogales, Arizona. That group – which included three who flew to Mexico just to try to cross back in – was released after about two weeks in detention to seek asylum before a judge.
US Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Juarez, who was brought over the border illegally as a toddler and grew up in Sunset Park, left for Puebla, Mexico in 2010 to stay with his grandparents, family and friends said.
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Samantha Sais/ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this July 22, 2013 file photo, “Dreamers” wearing their school graduation caps and gowns to show their desire to finish school in the U.S., march with linked arms to the U.S. port of entry where they planned to request humanitarian parole in Nogales, Mexico.
Juarez feared he’d never be able to work as an engineer, or even graduate, because his school required a paid internship in the industry, said his friend Marisol Ramos, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
“He was becoming increasingly frustrated, because all of the internships were requiring a social security number,” she said.
“I remember going to his house right before he was going to catch the flight. We were begging him, with a couple of other friends, you should stay … He’s a person. He got frustrated. And for someone that young, it’s heart breaking.”
Life in Puebla proved tougher than he imagined – Juarez struggled with Spanish and had trouble getting his transcripts accepted by a Mexican university.
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Marisol Ramos
Raul Juarez takes a photo from the Brooklyn Bridge.
“Our family members in Mexico actually helped him, with his grammar, with his punctuation,” said his younger sister, Judith Juarez, 22.
“It’s broken Spanish that both of us speak.”
He found odd English-speaking jobs, even working at a Verizon call center, but had trouble fitting in. He was assaulted and mugged on the street, his sister said.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S. a new federal program rolled out in June 2012 allowed undocumented young people to apply for a work permit and social security card. If he had stayed, Juarez would likely have qualified.
Last week, he decided to join the group of other young immigrants marching across the border. Now, his family is waiting to see if he can return to Brooklyn.
“We’re feeling happy because we’re one step closer to bringing him home,” said Judith Juarez.
“But it’s not so positive of a situation that he’s in either.”
epearson@nydailynews.com
http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=14861
via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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