An illegal immigrant attending high school in Detroit is back in his native Columbia following a denied bid for asylum and efforts to delay his deportation.
Maykol Bogoya Duarte, 18, was deported on Wednesday hours after his request to stay and finish his high school degree was denied by federal immigration officials, according to the Michigan Immigration Rights Center.
“We are deeply saddened to report that our young client Maykol was deported yesterday,” the center posted to Facebook. “His flight left approximately 3 hours after his stay was denied.”
MIRC attempted to delay Daurte’s deportation following his arrest on May 20 for driving three other students without a license to a school field trip at Lake Erie Metropark they did not have permission to attend, Chalkbeat Detroit reports.
Duarte, a junior at Western International High School, was stopped for tailgating a Rockwood police officer, who called for a Spanish translator from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to communicate with the student.
Other students in the vehicle contacted friends on the fieldtrip, who sent a teacher to the traffic stop, according to the education news site.
Federal officials told MLive Duarte had lived in the U.S. for nearly three years and was ordered to be removed from the country last year after his appeal for asylum was denied.
A CBP statement cited by The Detroit News confirmed Duarte “was in the country illegally, having ignored a judge’s removal order and lost his appeal.”
“The driver was the only one without legal status and was turned over to ICE custody,” the statement read.
MIRC attorney Ruby Robinson told the media the teen was in the process of acquiring a new Columbian passport to return to Columbia with his mother when he was arrested.
Duarte was hoping to finish the 3.5 credits he needed for a diploma before he left, and his arrest sparked widespread calls for federal officials to delay his deportation to make that happen.
“I think local police profiled Maykol and claimed they had to call immigration for translation purposes,” Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, posted to X. “He was a senior in HS + spoke English! This kind of irresponsibility doesn’t keep anyone in our communities safe. This enables racial profiling and separation of families.”
Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, also demanded Duarte “be released immediately and allowed to get his diploma.”
Duarte was initially housed at the Chippewa County Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula, where he spent three weeks before he was transferred to the Pine Prairie ICE Facility in Louisiana on Tuesday, as dozens packed a Detroit school board meeting to call for his release.
Others started an online petition that garnered 1,787 signatures toward a goal of 3,000.
“Governor Whitmer, Senator Slotkin, Senator Peters, Representative Thanedar, Representative Tlaib, and Detroit Public Schools — We are asking you to publicly condemn the detention of one of your students, to support his request to be released in order to finish his high school education, and to put preventative policies in place to better support immigrant students and families,” the petition read.
While Thanedar and Tlaib sounded off on Duarte’s deportation, Whitmer, Slotkin and Peters remained silent on social media and in press statements.
The Detroit school board issued a formal statement at Tuesday’s meeting.
“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. Maykol is part of our DPSCD family, and we are heartbroken by the fear and disruption this situation has caused his loved ones, classmates, and school community,” the statement read. “We call for the immediate release of Maykol and request a formal stay of his deportation. We want him to complete his coursework and graduate with his high school diploma—just as he has worked hard to do. We will also continue to keep in touch with the family and keep the school community updated.”
