Honduran teen held by ICE: ‘I learned a lot’ in detention

His detention in January was among many ordered by President Barack Obama’s administration as it stepped up efforts to find and deport unaccompanied children and families who had arrived in a wave of illegal crossings in 2014. He became one of a group of immigrants known as the North Carolina 6, three of whom are still detained at the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement’s Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia.

By the time immigrant officers caught up to Acosta, he was deeply immersed in his life at Riverside High School and had made many friends among classmates and teachers. It was they who launched an online fundraising campaign that eventually raised the $10,000 Acosta needed to secure his release earlier this month.

Life in the detainment centre wasn’t easy, he said: The beds were narrow and small, and detainees could watch, but not listen, to television. And even though he was allowed such luxuries as soda, he said it just didn’t taste as good in detention. He did make friends, however, and said he learned a lot from his experience.

“I experienced a lot,” he said. “I believe things have to happen for you to realize you can become somebody in life.”

While he awaits word on his asylum request — a process that could take years — Acosta plans to finish high school and go on to college, where he wants to study business or engineering. He originally was scheduled to graduate from Riverside in June.

He also wants to help the three still-detained members of the North Carolina 6: Pedro Salmeron of Charlotte and Santos Padilla-Guzman of Raleigh, both of who came to the U.S. from El Salvador; and Bilmer Pujoy Suarez of Greenville, a native of Guatemala.

“I just want to make a request that the way people support me I would ask you to support my friends who are still detained,” Acosta said. He said they too want to stay in this country because “in the United States, everything is possible.”

“You have opportunities.”

Acosta is ready to prove what he says.

“I will achieve my dreams,” he said. “I’m not going to give up. This is just the beginning.”

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Follow Martha Waggoner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mjwaggonernc. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/martha-waggoner

Martha Waggoner, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Honduran teen held by ICE: ‘I learned a lot’ in detention

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