RELEASE HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR WHO HAS BEEN IN DETENTION FOR 14 MONTHS

Jaime Fernando Arceno Hernandez is a 19 year-old young man from Doraville, Georgia. He migrated to the United States on his own at the age of 16, in order to escape violence, including one assassination attempt.

Jaime was put in deportation proceedings when he first crossed the border, and had been attending his immigration check-ins consistently, while he and his mother thought an attorney was filing a request for asylum. But on December 8, 2015, when he went to his immigration check-in, he was detained and not allowed to go back home with his mother.

It was not until after Jaime was detained that his family realized the attorney had cheated them and taken their money, without filing anything on their behalf. Instead, the attorney had allowed Jaime to be ordered deported, without telling Jaime or his mother.

On January 19, 2016 Jaime was transferred from Irwin Detention Center to the Atlanta ICE Field Office, where he was pressured to sign his own deportation papers. But he refused stating that he had an attorney and he would not sign anything until he could speak to him. ICE eventually sent him back to Irwin Detention Center.

The next day Jaime was taken to the Atlanta International Airport. Again, was told he should sign his deportation, which he refused. But ICE tried to put him on a plane anyway, without any travel documents. He was eventually sent back to Irwin Detention Center.

Currently Jaime has an asylum case and a T visa application pending. He has been in detention for 14 months now, which is a ridiculous amount of time for a young man with no criminal record and who was in High School when he was detained. Please sign the petition to urge ICE to release Jaime from detention so that he can be reunited with his mother while his cases are pending.