Miami valedictorian and her sister get reprieve from deportation

The North Miami High School valedictorian and her sister who were facing imminent deportation have been given a reprieve. This blog carried the story of the two sister’s plight on Monday after an immigration judge ordered the two young women to leave the country.

Immigration officials gave the two young women a two-year reprieve, citing the government’s policy of prosecutorial discretion. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials say that the immigration policy is intended to prioritize government pursuit of removal proceedings and to focus deportations on immigrants with serious criminal records, instead of deporting immigrants who pose little or no risk.

As this blog recounted earlier this week, the two sisters’ father is a legal resident of the United States. Their brother, a soldier who served the U.S. overseas, is a U.S. citizen. One of the two sisters is the valedictorian of her Florida high school class that is comprised of more than 800 students.

She intends to pursue college study in the sciences, looking to use an education in cellular and molecular biology in a medical career. The young women entered the country legally as young children 14 years ago on a visitor visa with their family.

This week, the two sisters travelled to the nation’s Capitol to speak with lawmakers who represent Florida, hoping to find a solution to their immigration plight.

The story has a bittersweet current status. While the two young women have been given a reprieve, that reprieve appears to be only for two years at this point, according to media reports.

South Florida immigration lawyers are aware that a great amount of public debate has been made in recent months concerning immigration issues. Immigration reform has not made great strides at the federal level and individual states, including Florida have sought to create new immigration laws.

With the current state of the law on immigration, it is important for undocumented immigrants and their families to consider speaking with an experienced South Florida immigration lawyer for advice on how to navigate the complex immigration laws and federal court litigation processes.

Source: CNN, “Valedictorian facing deportation gets reprieve in Florida,” Mar. 7, 2012