Alberto Yanez is a hard-working student, a committed young father, and an ambitious DREAMer. He came to the United States from Mexico in 1988 when he was just a year old. Raised in California, Alberto moved to Washington state with his family after his junior year in high school. He has been living there ever since.
His life has been full of accomplishments. In the 3rd grade, he was placed in the school’s gifted program; during high school, he was taking college courses. He was also awarded a scholarship for a summer course at UCLA after his freshman year of high school. When his family moved to Washington during his senior year, he enrolled in Washington’s Running Start program. Six months after his high school graduation, he received an Associate of Art’s degree from South Puget Sound Community College.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Soon after, Alberto enrolled in Evergreen State College, and attended for five quarters. Juggling a full time job with other part-time work, he decided to start his own business to give him some flexibility. Eventually, Alberto was able to return to school and finally enrolled at Clover Park Technical College in Tacoma to become a Pharmacy Technician. Even while running a business, working part-time, supporting a family, and studying for classes, Alberto managed to achieve 3 A’s and one B in the pharmacy technician program.
This is one high-achieving 24-year old.
His future, however, is now in the hands of ICE agents. On November 16, 2010, Alberto was taken into ICE custody, and spent approximately 30 days in the Tacoma Detention Center. With no criminal background, and as such a productive member of the community, Alberto Yanez is the lowest possible priority for deportation, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s recent memo clarifying its discretion in enforcement. What’s worse, if ICE does decide to deport this talented DREAMer, they would be ripping a father away from his three US citizen children, ages 4, 19 months, and 5 weeks.
Alberto is scheduled to check-in with the ICE officer at the Tukwila office this Thursday, July 7, 2011. According to Alberto:
It’s a coin toss whether the ICE officer is going to extend my stay or just detain and deport me.
It’s up to us to help. Sign the petition to tell ICE to keep Alberto at home with his family and then please share Alberto’s story on twitter.
We need thousands of signature in only a couple of days to send a message to ICE that they should let Alberto stay with his children. Please help get the word out.
