A model college student from Suffolk County, Long Island, was finally deported to Colombia after being detained for months by ICE, sparking community outrage.
The deported student, 20-year-old Sara Lopez Garcia, was an honors student at Suffolk County Community College before her arrest by ICE.
After more than two months in detention, she and her mother were put on a Colombian Air Force plane from Louisiana last Thursday evening, along with approximately 150 other immigrants, and landed in Bogota. The next day, she boarded another flight to Bucaramanga.
Garcia expressed anger at her detention during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. She stated that she had legal status in the United States, having arrived on a tourist visa with her mother and younger brother at age 15. She was granted Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, which typically paves the way for applicants to obtain a green card. She already had a valid work permit and a Social Security number, and no criminal record.
Now deported, she plans to move on, including preparing to complete her studies on Long Island through online courses. “I miss New York, I miss my friends, and I feel like I left a piece of myself there,” she said. “But I’m also disappointed in America. What they did to me was illegal.”
According to Garcia, federal law enforcement officers arrested her during a May 21 raid on their home in Mastic, searching for someone else. Her 17-year-old brother was left on Long Island, and ICE did not arrest him because he was a minor. He is currently in the care of his mother’s legally appointed guardian in Suffolk County.
Garcia’s deportation drew condemnation from the president of the Suffolk County Community College Faculty Association, who said the model student was exactly the kind of immigrant the United States should welcome. “This is so wrong,” said Dante Morelli. “These people come here to create opportunities for themselves and their families… They don’t come here to take anything away from others or to commit crime.” He hopes Sarah’s experience “doesn’t happen again on our campus, at any college in New York City, or across the country.”
According to State University of New York (SUNY) officials, Garcia is the first known SUNY student to be detained in New York State. She has a 3.9 GPA, serves as a peer counselor, and is involved in a nonprofit program that helps women who have experienced domestic violence.
