Just weeks after graduating high school, Bowling Green teen Ernesto Manuel Andres, 18, has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents even though he has legal documentation permitting his residence in the United States, according to news reports and immigrant advocates.
The Guatemala native has two documents giving him legal status in the U.S., including a Special Immigrant Juvenile status granted to youth who survived abandonment or abuse, and Deferred Action from the Department of Homeland Security, which protects him from deportation until 2029, the reports said.
On June 4, federal agents raided his apartment complex, where Andres’ father was detained. Andres’ father was then forced to lead the agents back to his family, according to an Instagram post made by Luma Mufleh, a refugee and immigrant advocate.
Andres presented his documents, but was detained anyway, according to a report by the Lexington Herald-Leader.
“He has complied with every requirement asked of him,” Mufleh said in a GoFundMe created to help Andres and his family. “He has no criminal history, no pending charges, no deportation order and no reason to be detained.”
Mufleh is the founder of Fugee Family, a national non-profit organization that works with public school districts, including the Teranga school in Bowling Green, to help support students who are learning English.
Andres was able to contact officials with Fugee while at the Grayson County detention center last week but was not able to talk to a lawyer until after 4.p.m on Monday, according to the reports.
Since being detained, Andres has been moved three times in five days and is currently being held in a detention facility in Monroe, Louisiana, according Mufleh’s post on GoFundMe.
“I have spent nearly two decades working with refugees and immigrant youth in this country,” Mufleh said in the GoFundMe. “I have seen many hard things but I never imagined that after all he had survived, after everything he had achieved, Ernesto would be fighting this battle now.”
