Missouri teen avoids deportation, at least for now (Seattle Times)

Missouri teen avoids deportation, at least for now
Noe Guzman will get to stay in the country through his high school graduation, but faces an uncertain future after that.

Originally published Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 8:40 AM

NEW HAVEN, Mo. —

Noe Guzman will get to stay in the country through his high school graduation, but faces an uncertain future after that.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has decided not proceed with deportation hearings for Guzman, a 17-year-old senior at New Haven High School in eastern Missouri.

Guzman and his mother left Mexico and came to Michigan when he was 4. His mother had obtained a Social Security number for him that belonged to a dead man. In 2003, the family, which had grown to include a stepfather and baby sister, moved to New Haven. The government learned about the fake Social Security number last year, as Guzman was seeking to join the military.

The decision by ICE buys only a little time. Guzman still must leave by November. His attorney, Katie Herbert Meyer, says he has few options that would keep him here — he has no relatives legally permitted in the U.S., no dependents, and he likely has no hardship which would allow him to avoid deportation.

U.S. policy requires Guzman to sign up for voluntary deportation before he turns 18. Otherwise, he would be forced to stay out of the U.S. for 10 years.

Guzman said he doesn't know what he'll do when he returns to Mexico. One option is to apply for a student visa and return to the U.S. as a college student.

Guzman became interested in the military when a Marine recruiter showed up at the school when Guzman was a freshman. The recruiter offered a free T-shirt to anyone who could do 20 pull-ups. He did 22.

Last summer, Guzman took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery and scored at the 89th percentile, more than good enough. The plan was to sign up for delayed enlistment.

In August, Guzman was in St. Louis for a military physical when he was suddenly pulled aside and scolded for something he knew nothing about.

"They were yelling at me, saying things like, 'How could you think you could get away with this?'" Guzman said. "I was confused."

Guzman was handcuffed and shackled. An ICE agent told him that his Social Security number did not belong to him.

"I saw all these problems that illegal immigrants faced, and we had never had any of them," he said.

That was when he found out how he came to be in the U.S. He said his mother fled to the U.S. to escape an abusive husband and father, whom Guzman has never met.

Guzman had his first deportation hearing in October, another in December. A New Haven pastor, David Poe, state Rep. Charlie Schlottach and New Haven schools superintendent Kyle Kruse wrote letters to ICE on his behalf.

"It's just a shame that someone like Noe, who was trying to do the right thing and enlist and serve his country, got caught up in a net like this," Kruse said.

One option remaining would be for Congress to pass a special private bill allowing Guzman to stay. Only 36 of those bills have passed since 1996, according to a Feb. 22 article in the Washington Post.

"We should be deporting terrorists, not young men like Noe who want to contribute to our society," said Mark Silverman of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco.

Guzman has a girlfriend and friends who have offered support. But, he said, it has been hard.

"There are days when I really can't take the stress," he said.