Dreams to Nightmares: Saving our friend from ICE
Donation protected
*Due to the sensitivity in subject and dangerous events going on at the border, names have been changed for individual security and at the request of my friend who fears retaliation.*
My friend *Henry* is an intensely motivated, compassionate, hard working human being that was protected under DACA until a profiling incident occurred a couple weeks ago. In the United States, your DACA status expires every two years and needs to be renewed constantly. Henry has lived in the United States since he was three years old and knows no other life or country except this one. He is also an Uber and Lyft driver (on top of several other jobs he works to feed his family) and has friends and passengers in his vehicle at all times.
While driving alone one night, he was in the right lane heading straight while a police car was in the left turn lane several lanes over. When the light turned green, Henry started driving as per usual, when all of a sudden the same police car was behind him with flashing lights and pulled him over. The officer explained that the reason she pulled him over was because she couldn't see his tags on his license plates.
On the dash cam video, Henry's tags are completely 100% visible. After a long conversation and insinuations that the car must be stolen, the officer was still giving Henry a hard time, then claimed she smelled weed in his car and asked to search his car. Henry gave his consent because he doesn't carry anything illegal in his vehicle and knew he had done nothing wrong. After a thorough search, the officer finds a Vape Pen in his glove compartment and tells him it has weed in it. Because Henry lives in a state where weed is still illegal, the officer immediately arrests him and throws a terrified Henry in jail.
In the dash cam video, the officer is seen fist bumping her partner after arresting Henry and clearly saying "We got another one."
The Vape Pen belonged to one of Henry's friends, who had asked him to hold it in his car and then forgot to retrieve it. Henry thought it was a simple E-Cigarette, which is why he agreed to put it in his car in the first place. This particular vape pen is an odorless blend of oil-based marijuana that no officer or human being could have smelled, especially since it was wrapped in a plastic bag in his glove compartment.
His "friend" will not admit that it's his pen and help him out, for fear of being arrested himself. Forensics have confirmed that Henry's fingerprints are not on the plastic bag or the pen at all, but simply having it in his car even if it's not his is still a felony in this state.
Henry's lawyer was able to get him out of jail ASAP, fortunately. But unfortunately, Henry now has a pending felony drug charge on his record because of this whole profiling incident. Even more unfortunately, Henry's DACA status renewal (which was pending at the time of this incident) has not been able to be renewed, leaving him an undocumented person in his own country. This is a particularly scary situation to be in, especially in the midst of the country's political turmoil over this issue.
With his DACA status expired, he's now put into a dangerous situation of getting deported (or worse, getting thrown into a cage - for God knows how long - until they can process him and deport him later). The upside of this is that he is married to an American citizen, but they need a marriage visa to obtain his legal rights as a citizen and therefore stay in the U.S.
In addition, since his DACA ran out, he can no longer work without a viable social security number and papers. He lost his main job and is also no longer able to drive for Lyft or Uber. Needless to say, this has placed huge financial stress on him and his family. Not only do they still have bills to pay, and food to put on the table, but this whole thing has cost them thousands in legal fees.
Please help us get this fixed and keep our friend safe in his own country. He is at an extremely high risk of being deported if he can't raise the money to pay for a marriage visa (that will allow him to claim his citizenship), which costs $3,500 on average.
A lot of you are wondering how you can help with all the things going on in the country today. While there are a million awesome ways to help, helping my friend Henry is just one way to help make a change in his life, in our lives, and in the country.
We're asking for donations to cover Henry's marriage visa and some of their legal fees as they try to trek through this sticky situation. His court date is on the 20th of August (this month!), and they are trying everything they can to keep him here, as he has been in this country since he was 3 years old. Please help, anything helps no matter how big or small.
My friend *Henry* is an intensely motivated, compassionate, hard working human being that was protected under DACA until a profiling incident occurred a couple weeks ago. In the United States, your DACA status expires every two years and needs to be renewed constantly. Henry has lived in the United States since he was three years old and knows no other life or country except this one. He is also an Uber and Lyft driver (on top of several other jobs he works to feed his family) and has friends and passengers in his vehicle at all times.
While driving alone one night, he was in the right lane heading straight while a police car was in the left turn lane several lanes over. When the light turned green, Henry started driving as per usual, when all of a sudden the same police car was behind him with flashing lights and pulled him over. The officer explained that the reason she pulled him over was because she couldn't see his tags on his license plates.
On the dash cam video, Henry's tags are completely 100% visible. After a long conversation and insinuations that the car must be stolen, the officer was still giving Henry a hard time, then claimed she smelled weed in his car and asked to search his car. Henry gave his consent because he doesn't carry anything illegal in his vehicle and knew he had done nothing wrong. After a thorough search, the officer finds a Vape Pen in his glove compartment and tells him it has weed in it. Because Henry lives in a state where weed is still illegal, the officer immediately arrests him and throws a terrified Henry in jail.
In the dash cam video, the officer is seen fist bumping her partner after arresting Henry and clearly saying "We got another one."
The Vape Pen belonged to one of Henry's friends, who had asked him to hold it in his car and then forgot to retrieve it. Henry thought it was a simple E-Cigarette, which is why he agreed to put it in his car in the first place. This particular vape pen is an odorless blend of oil-based marijuana that no officer or human being could have smelled, especially since it was wrapped in a plastic bag in his glove compartment.
His "friend" will not admit that it's his pen and help him out, for fear of being arrested himself. Forensics have confirmed that Henry's fingerprints are not on the plastic bag or the pen at all, but simply having it in his car even if it's not his is still a felony in this state.
Henry's lawyer was able to get him out of jail ASAP, fortunately. But unfortunately, Henry now has a pending felony drug charge on his record because of this whole profiling incident. Even more unfortunately, Henry's DACA status renewal (which was pending at the time of this incident) has not been able to be renewed, leaving him an undocumented person in his own country. This is a particularly scary situation to be in, especially in the midst of the country's political turmoil over this issue.
With his DACA status expired, he's now put into a dangerous situation of getting deported (or worse, getting thrown into a cage - for God knows how long - until they can process him and deport him later). The upside of this is that he is married to an American citizen, but they need a marriage visa to obtain his legal rights as a citizen and therefore stay in the U.S.
In addition, since his DACA ran out, he can no longer work without a viable social security number and papers. He lost his main job and is also no longer able to drive for Lyft or Uber. Needless to say, this has placed huge financial stress on him and his family. Not only do they still have bills to pay, and food to put on the table, but this whole thing has cost them thousands in legal fees.
Please help us get this fixed and keep our friend safe in his own country. He is at an extremely high risk of being deported if he can't raise the money to pay for a marriage visa (that will allow him to claim his citizenship), which costs $3,500 on average.
A lot of you are wondering how you can help with all the things going on in the country today. While there are a million awesome ways to help, helping my friend Henry is just one way to help make a change in his life, in our lives, and in the country.
We're asking for donations to cover Henry's marriage visa and some of their legal fees as they try to trek through this sticky situation. His court date is on the 20th of August (this month!), and they are trying everything they can to keep him here, as he has been in this country since he was 3 years old. Please help, anything helps no matter how big or small.
Organizer
Kirsten Stillman
Organizer
United States
