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Dozens gathered on Victory Boulevard with signs and flags to advocate for Sara Velasquez Gomez, a recent Port Richmond High School graduate allegedly detained by ICE.(Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro)<\/p>\nSTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 At an end-of-year conference in June, senior Sara Velasquez Gomez, 18, told the assembled faculty how thankful she was to have graduated from Port Richmond High School after moving here from Colombia with her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am here because I chose to be,\u201d Velasquez Gomez said, according to a copy of her speech given to the Advance\/SILive.com. \u201cBecause I worked hard for this moment. Because I proved to myself that being an immigrant doesn\u2019t mean being a burden. On the contrary: I came here without speaking English, without knowing the culture, missing my home country \u2014 and still, I made it. Today, I stand proud of my roots and deeply grateful to this country for giving me new opportunities and showing me the world from a different perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
The words read out by Velasquez Gomez resonated with those in attendance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was not a dry eye in the auditorium,\u201d said a Port Richmond High School source. \u201dThere were 300 staff members listening to this girl tell her story as she thanked the staff for welcoming her to the United States and to Port Richmond, and making her a success.” <\/p>\n
After graduation, Velasquez Gomez had obtained a job in a New Jersey warehouse. But in late October she was one of several dozen people allegedly rounded up and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said multiple sources advocating on her behalf.<\/p>\n
After spending time in a Newark detention center, she has since been moved to a Michigan facility, those sources said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis really hit home so hard, because every staff member at the high school knew who she was,\u201d said the school source.<\/p>\n
Dozens gathered on Victory Boulevard with signs and flags to advocate for Sara Velasquez Gomez, a recent Port Richmond High School graduate allegedly detained by ICE.(Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro)<\/p>\n
The only way Velasquez Gomez can speak to her mother is over the telephone with money from an account provided through the detention facility. Many members of Port Richmond High School staff have contributed money, so Velasquez Gomez could obtain simple necessities, like pajamas and a toothbrush, the source said. A GoFundMe is in the works to help Velasquez Gomez while she is detained, the source said.<\/p>\n
Velasquez Gomez\u2019s Story<\/p>\n
Velasquez Gomez came to the U.S. with her family in 2022 and was residing in a hotel on Staten Island that formerly sheltered migrants. She enrolled in Port Richmond High School and quickly rose to the top of her class as an honor student, according to the source. <\/p>\n
While attending Port Richmond High School, Velasquez Gomez was described as \u201can amazing young lady,\u201d by the source.<\/p>\n
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Dozens gathered on Victory Boulevard with signs and flags to advocate for Sara Velasquez Gomez, a recent Port Richmond High School graduate allegedly detained by ICE.(Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro)<\/p>\n
\u201cShe just assimilated into Port Richmond so well,\u201d the source said. \u201cWhat has happened is unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The source said that because Velasquez Gomez was underage at the time of her arrival in the U.S., she was covered under her mother\u2019s asylum-seeking application.<\/p>\n
\u201cSara was a minor and would have been blanketed in with her mother, but now that she\u2019s turned 18, she\u2019s not anymore, and she\u2019s kind of in this limbo, which is what\u2019s making it even harder,\u201d said the source, who said Velasquez Gomez had already initiated the asylum seeking process on her own.<\/p>\n
After the Staten Island migrant shelter closed, she moved with her family to New Jersey. <\/p>\n
\u201cSara, I think, like everyone who was arrested in that raid on that mailing facility on Oct. 29, is a contributing community member, which is why I think you saw such an outpouring of support for her from her teachers and others in the community,\u201d said Mary Hernandez, a West Brighton resident and volunteer who works with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is, right now, because I guess the administration believes that there are judges that are more favorable to potentially hearing people\u2019s cases in New Jersey and New York, they\u2019re attempting to move people who are picked up in these raids \u2014 or otherwise \u2014 out of the state as soon as possible,\u201d added Hernandez.<\/p>\n
In speaking with the Advance\/SILive.com, Hernandez also drew attention to what she believes are limitations in the immigration system which have prevented asylum seekers from being granted a timely hearing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are thousands and thousands of people who have filed, but they haven\u2019t heard back for any hearing or any date,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not return a request for comment by the time of publication.<\/p>\n
Rally held to demand her release<\/p>\n
A few dozen protesters waving signs and American flags lined a stretch of Victory Boulevard on Saturday<\/a> outside the office of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis in Castleton Corners rallying for Velasquez Gomez\u2019s release.<\/p>\n Organizers urged those at the rally to call on Malliotakis, a Republican who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn in Congress, to defend the dignity and safety of the immigrant community.<\/p>\n A response from Malliotakis\u2019 office was not received by the time of publication.<\/p>\n After reading a speech Velasquez Gomez reportedly wrote about her time in school, a protester, who asked that their name not be published, stated: \u201cShe appreciates what this country gave to her. She expresses it so well. She\u2019s so appreciative to her teachers and to America. She\u2019s what everybody wants for their neighbor to be, and it breaks my heart that this is what they\u2019re going after. They\u2019re not just going after violent criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody said to us: \u2018well why don\u2019t you drop this? She lives in Jersey, she\u2019s not in your community,\u2019’\u2019 Elena Arena, a member of Staten Island Action Coalition, told the Advance\/SILive.com. \u201dAnd I said \u2018she came from our community and she\u2019s a human being and I don\u2019t care if she lives in Jersey or lives here.\u2019 Their story is the same; this is happening everywhere.”<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 At an end-of-year conference in June, senior Sara Velasquez Gomez, 18, told the assembled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36952,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-36951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}