COLLEGE STUDENT DETAINED IN WASHINGTON COUNTY

MASS GATHERING IN FRONT OF JAIL HOUSE
November 21, 2007
3:00 p.m.- 6:00 p.m.
Washington County Jail House
215 SW ADAMS, Hillsboro, OR 97123

For more information, contact Brenda Maldonado at 509-432-3365.

On Friday, November 16th Alejandra Trujillo went to a Hillsboro DMV to renew her driver’s license, in a moment of despair, she presented some incorrect documentation of her identity to the DMV representative. Although she went through the whole process of taking her picture, signing paperwork, etc. she was told to sit and wait until her license was ready. After a long period of time instead of receiving her renewed license, she was greeted by our local Hillsboro Police Department.

Alejandra has been in the United States since she was 8 years old; a student leader at a local college she gives back to her community by mentoring Latino youth to set high goals for themselves and achieve success through seeking higher education.  Without a prior criminal record Alejandra has been detained in the Washington County jail since 9:30 a.m. that morning.

On Friday that afternoon, bail had been set at $1000.00. Her family presented with the money required for her release; they were told to wait for some paperwork to be processed. After an hour passed, they were told that she was no longer eligible to be released. In that short amount of time, an immigration hold was placed on her.  Someone within the police department had alerted immigration of her presence in the jail. She had a hearing yesterday at 3:00 p.m. in which she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. Her sentence was two days in jail and a $67 fine.

She served her time over the weekend and paid her $67. Under normal circumstance she would have been released. Unfortunately the case is not so simple. Now, the state is obligated to keep Alejandra due to the Immigration (ICE) hold placed on her last Friday; She remains incarcerated.

There is a 48-hour detainer rule, which states that she must be released by 4:00 p.m., November 21, 2007 according to the following statement… “ Once Immigration arrests a non-citizen, it must charge him or her with being removable (deportable) within a limited period of time. This must normally be done within 48 hours of the arrest, unless the INS (immigration and Naturalization Service) has reasonable grounds to believe that the person was engaged in terrorist activities. 8 C.F.R.§ 287.3(d) and USA Patriot § 412.”

We ask that people and organizations come and support the family and friends of Alejandra Trujillo as we wait for a college student and community member to be released tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.