A recent high school graduate in Ohio faces deportation to Honduras only weeks after receiving its diploma, causing protests from community members and teammates in Cincinnati.
Emerson Colindres, who arrived in the United States as a child more than a decade ago, was arrested by immigration and customs compliance with the United States (ICE) during what his followers say it was a routine record in an ice installation in the Cincinnati Blue Ash suburb last Wednesday.
According to their soccer coach, Brian Williams, ice agents waited for Colindres in the installation, which operates the intensive supervision appearance program (ISAP), an alternative to detention.
The community meets with HS Grad, which was arrested by ICE.
WCPO
“That was when they informed us that they were stopping and deporting only Emerson,” Williams He told Cincinnati ABC Wcpo affiliate. “No explanation was given.”
Colindres and his family sought asylum after arriving from Honduras, but their case and their subsequent appeal were denied with a final elimination order issued in 2023. Their supporters say that the family had been regularly registering with ice and they were never explicitly told to leave the country.
The National Security Department, responding to consultations on the case, emphasized its current application policies in a statement to WCPO.
“Those arrested had executable final orders of elimination by an immigration judge and had not complied with that order. If you are in the country illegally and a judge has ordered you to eliminate it, that is precisely what will happen,” he said.
Emerson Colindres was arrested by ICE last week and faces deportation to Honduras.
WCPO
The department also pointed out that the “ICE Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) exists to guarantee compliance with liberation conditions.”
As the news of Colindres arrest extended, the support of its community has constantly grown. Outside the Cincinnati prison, where Colindres, soccer teammates and community members have met in protest.
“No child, our age should be going through what is happening. He is alone. He is in a cell right now,” said Josh Williams, a friend of Colindres, to WCPO.
His soccer coach Brian Williams, was excited to argue the situation.
“Emerson is one of the best children I’ve met,” he told Wcpo. “We don’t know what we can do, but we are doing what we can.”
The teammates described Colindres as an exceptional player and person.
“It’s like the best player I’ve seen. He is dedicated. He wants to win,” said Preston Robinson, a friend and teammate, to Wcpo.
Robinson emphasized WCPO that Colindres had no other option in his immigration state when he was a child.
“It’s not as if I had a voice about whether or not he could come,” he said. “I just wanted to be here to prove that I support it. I support anyone who is going through this, because it is simply not fair.”
The National Security Department pointed out in its statement that the “ATD Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) of ICE exists to guarantee compliance with liberation conditions.”
