Georgia student fights deportation

On March 29, Jessica Colotl was a high-achieving senior majoring in political science and French at Kennesaw State University and looking forward to graduating in a few months. Her life abruptly changed when a campus cop pulled her over for “impeding the flow of traffic” as she was entering a university parking lot.

Sorority sisters of Jessica Colotl join May Day march in Atlanta. Photo: Atlanta IAC

Colotl, who was brought to this country by her parents when she was 11 years old, cannot secure a driver’s license in Georgia because she has no papers. The Kennesaw campus is in Cobb County, one of the first local jurisdictions in the U.S. to enter into an agreement with Section 287(g) of Immigration and Customs Enforcement law, which grants counties the authority to enforce the federal law.

Colotl was arrested for driving without a license, taken to the Cobb County jail and then turned over to ICE agents, who transferred her to the Etowah Detention Center in Gadsden, Ala.

Hours from her family and friends, the young woman, like thousands of other detainees, was thrust into a frightening and uncertain situation, with deportation to Mexico the likely outcome.

However, Colotl’s sorority sisters, through Facebook and other networks, began spreading the word about her case. Organizations like the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union offered help. Even the president of KSU, Dan Papp, sent a letter in support of Colotl returning to her studies.

Still, on April 30, an immigration judge ordered her to be deported.

On May 1 thousands of people rallying at the Georgia State Capitol demanded her release. Her story was featured in newspapers and on television.

On May 5 her supporters celebrated the news that ICE had granted Colotl a one-year deferment of her deportation in order to complete her education.

Stung by this reversal, right-wing politicians and anti-immigrant groups began to clamor for the removal of all undocumented students from public higher education in Georgia. Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren, a staunch proponent of 287(g), escalated the rhetoric by issuing a warrant on May 12 on a felony charge, alleging she had made a false statement to the police about her place of residence.

According to Colotl’s lawyer, the explanation is simple and one the sheriff’s office should have been able to figure out. The Duluth, Ga., address on her car registration and insurance cards was used on the traffic ticket, but when asked by the ICE agents for her address, she gave them her current residence in Norcross, Ga. Nevertheless, Sheriff Warren made a great show of issuing a “fugitive” hunt for the young woman, proclaiming his duty to uphold the law.

An examination of Cobb County arrest records shows that the vast majority of the thousands arrested and turned over to ICE for deportation were stopped for minor traffic violations, just like Colotl.

Although the stated intent of 287(g) was to deport those involved in serious crimes like murder and rape, immigration rights activists charge local police with racial profiling and ethnic cleansing and demand the Obama administration end the program altogether.

Accompanied by her lawyers, Colotl turned herself in on May 14, was released on a $2,500 bond and held a nationally covered news conference that afternoon. Responding to the barrage of questions from reporters, she repeated her “hope that something positive comes out of this, because we really need reform for this messed-up system.” For more information on Jessica Colotl’s case, call 770-457-5232.