Jessica Colotl, a twenty-one-year-old Mexican immigrant and student at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, is fighting deportation after she was pulled over for “impeding the flow of traffic.”
When Colotl presented her Mexican passport, she was arrested for driving without a license and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detained in Alabama. Due to community outrage at Colotl’s detention, ICE agreed to issue her “deferred action” for one year.
On May 12, the Georgia sheriff outrageously filed felony charges against her for allegedly providing a false address to the police.
“I was treated like a criminal, like a threat to the nation,” explained Colotl after being released on $2,500 bail.
The Cobb County sheriff’s office was the first in Georgia and one of the first in the country to apply for 287(g) status. The 287(g) program is a collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security where local police officers act as immigration agents by detaining immigrants and initiating deportation proceedings.
The racist program is part of a systematic campaign of oppression against immigrants. Amnesty and full equality for Jessica Colotl and all immigrants now!
