Following is a statement from Lynn Tramonte, Executive Director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, after the deportation of Cincinnati teenager Emerson Colindres.
"They did it. The Trump administration deported Emerson Colindres. What kind of cold, callous heart do you have to have deport a young man like him, at the start of his future? Like his whole family, Emerson was on a path to a U visa. He lived most of his life here. His teachers love him, his teammates, his coaches. This didn't have to happen. The federal government could have made a different choice; they could have let him stay.
"When you give birth, it's like a piece of your heart is walking around outside of your body. I can't imagine what it was like for Emerson's parents, knowing he was far away in an immigration jail in Louisiana, and then on that deportation plane — in shackles, no less. My son is the same age as Emerson; they played soccer against each other. The only difference is, my son had the luck of being born here. It breaks my heart to think about Emerson being treated this way.
"People move. It's as old as time; a basic part of being human. Emerson's parents did what any of us would do, if we had to — they found a safe place to raise their kids. They applied for asylum, but the way our system works is so messed up. It doesn't actually provide safety for most people who need it. They found a different visa path and all the government had to do was wait a little longer for them to get it. But the Trump administration wouldn't wait. It wanted to Emerson to be another number in their mass deportation quota. But there's a person behind every number. There's a face and an entire community. These aren't statistics, they are human beings with hopes, dreams, and dignity.
"By all accounts, Emerson is a great kid who has a bright future ahead of him. Ohio will miss out, because Emerson is no longer here. This didn't have to happen and it doesn't have to happen again, to anyone. We need ICE out of our communities. We need to end the ICE contracts with Ohio county jails and police forces that make it possible for deportations like this to take place. We don't need bills like SB 172, that only encourage more abductions of our Ohio community members. None of this makes us any safer, it only makes our families and communities more hurt and more broken."
