On Sunday morning, we received news that Wildin Acosta, a North Carolina teenager who was facing imminent deportation to Honduras, would not deported on the late night flight to Honduras.
Because of the hard work from local organizers on the ground and on the phones, ICE officials stopped Wildin’s deportation in order to give him one more day to file an appeal.
The tough news to deal with is that Wildin remains in ICE custody, and ICE is not releasing him back to his parents and community while he goes through the process of filing his appeal.
Several other North Carolina teens are also still facing possible deportation, like Pedro Salmeron, who is detained at an ICE flight staging center and could be deported to El Salvador some time this week. And there’s also Yefri Sorto, who was issued a last minute stay of deportation but could find his stay lifted at any moment.
These three young men are still very vulnerable to deportation at any time. ICE allowing Wildin to file his appeal is the bare minimum. ICE should listen to his family, local groups, his teachers, and other community members impacted by Wildin’s arrest and return him to his community and home in Durham, NC.
We’ll update this blog when we get more information about Wildin, Pedro, and Yefri. We need your continued help in keeping up the pressure on ICE until these young men are released and returned to their North Carolina homes where they belong.
