Be sure to read Hector Tobar’s LA Times story about Juan Silva, a gang member turned scholar who turned his life around but, although he’ a permanent legal resident of he U.S., he may soon be deported unless a judge intervenes.
His case is like that of thousands of others who were raised in the US, have documents, but are not citizens—who are manditorily deported if they happen to run afoulf of the law, even as juveniles.
I wrote about another such person, plus the details of the law that requires deportations like what Silva is facing, back in 2005 for the Los Angeles Times Magazine (when the LA Times had a magazine). You can find it here.
However it is Tobar’s story about Juan Silva that is particularly worth reading today.
photo by Michael Robinson Chavez