Calls Grow For Deportation Halt Of MI Teen Until Graduation

DETROIT — Calls are growing for federal officials to release a Detroit teen who was arrested by immigration officers during a traffic stop while on a field trip last month so he can finish high school before being deported.

Maykol Bogoya-Duarte, 18, a student at Western International High School in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, was stopped by officers after tailgating a police car on May 20 near Rockwood, Border Patrol officials said.

When officers learned Bogoya-Duarte was driving without a license, officials said they contacted Border Patrol agents due to a "language barrier." The agents confirmed he and his mother had existing deportation orders.

Border Patrol officials said the teen, who’s lived in the United States for nearly three years, ignored a judge’s removal order and lost his appeal. He was then arrested and is now facing "imminent" deportation back to his home country, Colombia, according to attorney Ruby Robinson from the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.

The community and school district have rallied behind Bogoya-Duarte, calling for a deportation stay so he can finish high school.

A petition calling for Bogoya-Duarte’s release so that he can finish the three credits needed to graduate has gathered more than 1,500 signatures, as of Wednesday afternoon.

The petition describes Bogoya-Duarte as an "ideal student" who is "an intelligent and caring individual, loved by students and staff alike."

"This young man is just hoping to be able to get released from detention in order to complete his high school diploma," the petition said.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District Board of Education is also asking for a deportation stay after dozens of people spoke up at a Tuesday meeting in support of Bogoya-Duarte earning his diploma.

"The Detroit Public Schools Community District Board of Education stands firmly with our community in demanding the immediate stay of deportation for our student, Maykol Bogoya Duarte," the school board said in a statement. "We want him to complete his coursework and graduate with his high school diploma, just as he has worked hard to do."

One of Bogoya-Duarte's teachers spoke at meeting and said he and a few other students decided to skip school and drive themselves to the field trip location at Lake Erie Metropark.

"This was an adolescent mistake. Every single student inside and outside the situation knows this was a terrible idea, but I also think we all can agree that skipping school and driving without a license shouldn't be justification for imprisonment and deportation," said Kristen Shoettle, Duarte's teacher.

Boyoga-Duarte was initially placed in a Border Patrol facility before he was moved to the Chippewa County Correctional Facility in Upper Peninsula's Sault Ste. Marie for the past three weeks. He was then moved to the Pine Prairie ICE Facility in Louisiana on Tuesday, according to the ICE website that locates detainees.