Huntington residents have set up a GoFundMe campaign to assist a former Huntington High School student who was deported back to Honduras.
The campaign for the immigrant known simply as Alex has a goal of $10,000.
The New York Times and ProPublica published a story online Thursday that recounted how the he came to the attention of school and police authorities after first wearing blue sneakers and then doodling images of a devil with horns–the school’s mascot.
Information about him ended up in a database which was then available to Immigration and Custom Enforcement authorities, who eventually arrested him and held him for more than a year before he deporting him.
In response to the article, the school district posted a letter in English and Spanish saying it wanted to review its relationship with the Suffolk County Police Department writing, “It is our firm belief that such an agreement would establish formal procedural guidelines associated with the SRO position, as well as with information flow and restrictions.”
On the GoFundMe page, organizers wrote, “Since learning more about the circumstances regarding Alex’s experiences, we have reached out to Alex’s family to learn more about the actions they have needed to take to protect their child. For the past two years, Alex’s family had racked up approximately $25,000 in costs relating, but not limited to: Legal fees, transportation costs, loss of wages, providing Alex with money while he was in immigration detention, and Alex’s cost of living in Honduras since his deportation.”
The campaign page encourages residents to attend the next Huntington school board meeting on Jan.7.