Copyright Staten Island Advance
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — At an end-of-year conference in June, senior Sara Velasquez Gomez, 18, told the assembled faculty how thankful she was to have graduated from Port Richmond High School after moving here from Colombia with her family. “I am here because I chose to be,” Velasquez Gomez said, according to a copy of her speech given to the Advance/SILive.com. “Because I worked hard for this moment. Because I proved to myself that being an immigrant doesn’t mean being a burden. On the contrary: I came here without speaking English, without knowing the culture, missing my home country — and still, I made it. Today, I stand proud of my roots and deeply grateful to this country for giving me new opportunities and showing me the world from a different perspective.” The words read out by Velasquez Gomez resonated with those in attendance. “There was not a dry eye in the auditorium,” said a Port Richmond High School source. ”There were 300 staff members listening to this girl tell her story as she thanked the staff for welcoming her to the United States and to Port Richmond, and making her a success." After graduation, Velasquez Gomez had obtained a job in a New Jersey warehouse. But in late October she was one of several dozen people allegedly rounded up and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said multiple sources advocating on her behalf. After spending time in a Newark detention center, she has since been moved to a Michigan facility, those sources said. “This really hit home so hard, because every staff member at the high school knew who she was,” said the school source. The only way Velasquez Gomez can speak to her mother is over the telephone with money from an account provided through the detention facility. Many members of Port Richmond High School staff have contributed money, so Velasquez Gomez could obtain simple necessities, like pajamas and a toothbrush, the source said. A GoFundMe is in the works to help Velasquez Gomez while she is detained, the source said. Velasquez Gomez’s Story Velasquez Gomez came to the U.S. with her family in 2022 and was residing in a hotel on Staten Island that formerly sheltered migrants. She enrolled in Port Richmond High School and quickly rose to the top of her class as an honor student, according to the source. While attending Port Richmond High School, Velasquez Gomez was described as “an amazing young lady,” by the source. “She just assimilated into Port Richmond so well,” the source said. “What has happened is unbelievable.” The source said that because Velasquez Gomez was underage at the time of her arrival in the U.S., she was covered under her mother’s asylum-seeking application. “Sara was a minor and would have been blanketed in with her mother, but now that she’s turned 18, she’s not anymore, and she’s kind of in this limbo, which is what’s making it even harder,” said the source, who said Velasquez Gomez had already initiated the asylum seeking process on her own. After the Staten Island migrant shelter closed, she moved with her family to New Jersey. “Sara, I think, like everyone who was arrested in that raid on that mailing facility on Oct. 29, is a contributing community member, which is why I think you saw such an outpouring of support for her from her teachers and others in the community,” said Mary Hernandez, a West Brighton resident and volunteer who works with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. “The reality is, right now, because I guess the administration believes that there are judges that are more favorable to potentially hearing people’s cases in New Jersey and New York, they’re attempting to move people who are picked up in these raids — or otherwise — out of the state as soon as possible,” added Hernandez. In speaking with the Advance/SILive.com, Hernandez also drew attention to what she believes are limitations in the immigration system which have prevented asylum seekers from being granted a timely hearing. “There are thousands and thousands of people who have filed, but they haven’t heard back for any hearing or any date,” she said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not return a request for comment by the time of publication. Rally held to demand her release A few dozen protesters waving signs and American flags lined a stretch of Victory Boulevard on Saturday outside the office of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis in Castleton Corners rallying for Velasquez Gomez’s release. Organizers urged those at the rally to call on Malliotakis, a Republican who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn in Congress, to defend the dignity and safety of the immigrant community. A response from Malliotakis’ office was not received by the time of publication. After reading a speech Velasquez Gomez reportedly wrote about her time in school, a protester, who asked that their name not be published, stated: “She appreciates what this country gave to her. She expresses it so well. She’s so appreciative to her teachers and to America. She’s what everybody wants for their neighbor to be, and it breaks my heart that this is what they’re going after. They’re not just going after violent criminals.” “Somebody said to us: ‘well why don’t you drop this? She lives in Jersey, she’s not in your community,’'’ Elena Arena, a member of Staten Island Action Coalition, told the Advance/SILive.com. ”And I said ‘she came from our community and she’s a human being and I don’t care if she lives in Jersey or lives here.’ Their story is the same; this is happening everywhere."
