Durham deportation case stalls for appeals

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will await the outcome of Wildin David Guillen-Acosta’s immigration proceedings before taking further action.

Acosta was taken into custody by ICE on Jan. 28 outside his home in Durham. Acosta — who is now 19 years old — was on his way to Riverside High School when ICE officers approached and detained him.

“Mr. Acosta falls within an enforcement priority category due to a final order of removal issued by a federal immigration judge in March 2015,” ICE said in a statement.

ICE Director Sarah Saldaña halted Acosta’s deportation in March until an appeal could be heard. Advocates for Acosta, like U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., asked for time for the teenager to appeal his case. Acosta was detained on a Friday and issued to be deported on a Sunday – giving the teenager’s attorneys no time to appeal.

“I believe that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s limited resources would be better utilized focusing on dangerous criminals who pose a threat to our communities rather than high school students and teenagers trying to make better lives for themselves,” Butterfield said in a press release.

Acosta fled his native Honduras when he was 17 to reside with his family. He said that he moved because of threats made by gangs in Honduras. He was granted a hearing in front of an immigration judge, but he failed to appear in court — on the advice of his attorney.

To stay in the United States, Charlotte immigration attorney Robert Zuniga said Acosta must prove he needs asylum.

“These individuals have to prove that they are under persecution, and it usually has to do with a group they are born into,” Zuniga said.

Federal law defines those groups as race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

Zuniga said gang violence affects too large a group in Honduras to grant Acosta asylum.

“If you have a family member that has been killed by a gang, and you have reason to believe they will go after you,” Zuniga said. “But it needs to be a present threat in your life.”

Butterfield and other advocates said Acosta’s age and student status should be considered during his appeals.

“Under the law, an 18 year-old is an adult, and they are tried like one. But I remember being 18, and I went to college, and there are people that at 19, they still live with their parents, and they haven’t had the social experiences that mature them enough to be an adult,” Zuniga said.

Ron Woodard, director of N.C. Listen, a nonprofit organization interested in immigration, said Acosta should be deported for breaking the law — regardless of his age.

“It’s unfortunate when any of us feel unsafe, but you can’t just go and cross somebody’s border,” he said. “Why not go to Costa Rica, for example? That’s a whole lot closer than the United States if you’re just worried about violence.”

But UNC geography professor Altha Cravey said there are no safe alternatives in Central America.

“In the United States, we helped create a lot of the violence happening in Central America back in the ’80s,” she said.

According to Cravey, U.S. foreign policy has done little to implement democratic policies in Central America.

“It’s a moral contradiction, and we have a moral obligation to help these people,” Cravey said.

state@dailytarheel.com