N.C. Dream Team assists immigrants
By Bertrand m. Gutiérrez
Published: July 06, 2011

Fredd Reyes and Erick Velazquillo, both in their 20s, were just 2 when their parents brought them to the United States from Guatemala and Mexico, respectively.
Both face deportation now.
"It is scary because you have to hope for the best and be prepared for the worse," Reyes, 24, said. "You might as well send me to Africa. I don't know anything about Guatemala. But I can't stop anything that's going to happen. I'm just another human on this planet."
For Reyes, who lives in Thomasville and said he has no criminal record, the specter of deportation started last year as he was living what he thought was a normal American life, going on dates with his girlfriend, pursuing a bachelor's degree at UNC Greensboro and playing gigs with his band on the weekends.
It all got turned upside-down Sept. 24.
Reyes said he isn't certain how immigration officials came to knock on his door in the early morning, but he was the one who answered. They arrested him because he is not authorized to be in the United States, he said. Though the family entered with a visa, it had expired.
Reyes was soon in a Georgia detention center sharing a prison cell with gang members.
"It's something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy," Reyes said. "God was with me, protecting me."
Two months after his arrest, Reyes was granted "deferred action," a measure used at the discretion of U.S. Customs and Immigration Services in certain cases. In Reyes' case, deferred action came after the N.C. Dream Team, a Raleigh-based immigrant advocacy group, got a lot of petitions signed.
"Most of the time, attorneys tell people they don't have any options," said Domenic Powell, one of the founding members. "But there's a belief here that there is a way to fight it, and that is to go public. The N.C. Dream Team has been telling people to stand up and fight it."
Reyes did fight.
And the battle continues. He must report to immigration officials every two or three months, and his fate as a U.S. resident could be decided in an immigration hearing in September.
Velazquillo's fate could be determined July 19.
An immigration court in Charlotte could decide at that time whether his attorneys' petition for deferred action should be granted.
"I have thought of it, being deported, and I was really planning on it because lawyers were telling me my only option was voluntary departure," said Velazquillo, 22. "I'm a little bit nervous, but I feel like something positive is going to come out of it."
Velazquillo's life was turned upside-down Oct. 11.
Going home after working out at a gym in Matthews, a police officer stopped him for driving with his high beams on. As it turned out, Velazquillo, who said he has no criminal record, was arrested on charges that he was driving with an expired license, among other infractions.
The traffic violations have been resolved. The immigration fight has just begun.
If Velazquillo gets to stay in the United States, he plans to make use of the associate of arts degree he got from Central Piedmont Community College and the acceptance letter he has gotten from UNC Charlotte.
"I really thought about my major, and I thought nutrition was the best fit for me," he said. "I've always been a healthy person and I have always read a lot about how food has an impact on the body."
http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/ju ... r-1182131/