Detroit high school student loses deportation fight

Louis Aguilar, The Detroit News on Jun 11, 2025

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DETROIT — An 18-year-old Columbian immigrant living in Detroit who is facing deportation after being stopped for traffic violation has lost his appeal to stay in the country, his attorney confirmed Wednesday.

"I don't know when his deportation is, but I expect it will happen pretty quickly," said Ruby Robinson, an attorney for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, who is representing Maykol Bogoya-Duarte.

Duarte is currently being held at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Louisiana, according to the ICE website that locates detainees. Attorney Robinson shared with The News a redacted copy of the Wednesday afternoon ruling by the Detroit office of ICE that denied Bogoya-Duarte's attempt to stay in Detroit for six months so he could graduate from Detroit's Western International High School.

He was denied asylum last year to stay in the U.S. and was in the process of getting a passport in order to return to Colombia. He had been in the U.S. since 2022, Robinson said.

His case reflects a growing increase of local police quickly calling U.S. Customs and Border Protection for assistance as well as the federal agency increasingly detaining immigrants for longer periods of time before handing them over to ICE.

On May 20, Bogoya-Duarte was driving a private vehicle on his way to a school field trip when he was stopped for tailgating a Rockwood police officer, who was in an unmarked patrol car, according to the Rockwood police report provided. He didn't have a driver's license, and the officer from the small Downriver community quickly called U.S. Customs and Border Protection due to a "language barrier," according to the police report.

The Rockwood Police Department didn't respond Tuesday to requests for comment.

A Customs and Border Patrol spokesman confirmed the details of the police report but emphasized that Bogoya Duarte had already gone through a judicial proceeding.

Bogoya-Duarte "was in the country illegally, having ignored a judge’s removal order and lost his appeal," according to the Border Patrol statement. "The driver was the only one without legal status and was turned over to ICE custody."

There was growing support to allow Bogoya-Duarte to stay in Detroit until he graduated from the Detroit public high school.

U.S. State Rep. Rashida Tlaib posted on X about the 18-year-old being denied a stay of deportation "ICE cruelly sent him to Louisiana and separated him from his family. He should be released and allowed to graduate."

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem requesting "an immediate update on his well-being, the reasons why he was initially targeted by law enforcement, and that he be granted a stay of deportation to complete his education," according to press release issued by Thanedar.

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