WHAT'S NEXT

Tell ICE to Stop Deportation of 19-Year-Old Aspiring Pastor, David Morales
  1. Signatures
    13,006 out of 15,000
    Petitioning
    1. Gov. Gary Herbert (+ 11 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Gov. Gary Herbert (UT)
      • Sen. Orrin Hatch (UT)
      • Sen. Mike Lee (UT)
      • Department of Homeland Security
      • Senator (Orrin Hatch)
      • Legislative Director (Jay Khosla)
      • Senator (Mike Lee)
      • ICE Director (John Morton)
      • Field Officer Director (Steven M. Branch)
      • Governor (Gary Herbert)
      • Chief of Staff (Spencer Stokes)
      • Chief of Staff (Michael Kennedy)
  2. Created By
    Salt Lake Dream Team END Campaign
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
How We Won

Feb 29, 2012

After a year of campaigning & struggling through inadequate legal representation, DHS has canceled David's deportation! Even when times got tough, 13,000 of you who signed a Change.org petition to keep him in Utah stood by David. And thanks to you, he will stay in the country he calls home.

Raymi Gutierrez, a member of the Salt Lake City Dream Team who started the petition, says, “I am extremely grateful for the support David received during his campaign. We could not have had this small victory without the help of petition signers, community advocates, Change.org, and the Salt Lake Dream Team.”

“I am relieved to hear he will not be deported,” Raymi added. “However, simply cancelling his deportatoin is not a solution to this country's broken immigration system. It is necessary for our federal government to focus on constructing just and humane immigration reform.”

David is celebrating his victory and plans to use his energy towards advancing even more activism in the future. Not one to take his own victory for granted, David's already hard at work in the service of others. Check out David's interview on ABC 4 to talk about this hard-earned victory. 

Morales is a DREAM Act eligible student who was brought to the United States from Mexico when he was only 9 years old. After graduating from Granite Peaks High in Utah, David Morales, 19, planned to pursue his dream of higher education and becoming a Christian pastor. But on his way to a Bible college in Louisiana, he was stopped by immigration agents who boarded his Greyhound bus. An upstanding student with a track record of community service, Morales now finds himself in removal proceedings.

His next court date is Thursday, October 6th and we need to put as much pressure on ICE as possible before then. 

Ask ICE to halt removal proceedings and grant Morales deferred action so he can continue his education in the United States. Please sign this petition and spread the word.

Photo Credit: The Salt Lake Tribune

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Please Stop Deportation of Utah Teenager, Deyvid Morales

Greetings,

Deyvid Morales, a West Valley City teen, was 45 minutes away from college when the Greyhound bus he was riding, and his dreams for the future, both came to a sudden halt. Federal immigration officials who were stopping buses and vans for routine checks,asked passengers on Morales’ bus if they were U.S. citizens. Morales told them he wasn’t. The next thing he knew, Morales was arrested and spent 17 days in jail before his family posted a $4,000 bond.

Morales is a DREAM Act-eligible youth with a history of community service. As a high-schooler, he raised money to help homeless teens. He volunteered as a Spanish interpreter at Woodrow Wilson Elementary. He spoke at graduation, telling his fellow students that they had climbed a mountain peak they once viewed as too tall to reach. After all, Morales had climbed the mountain peak himself. He is the first person in his family to graduate from high school. And he does not plan to stop there. The young man has his sights set on graduate school and possibly a doctorate someday.

“David is one of those kids you don’t want to lose,” said Erik Contreras, co-chairman of the Utah Latino Legislative Task Force and a Morales family friend. “He is a role model. He is the kind of kid we need involved in our community.”

“He was very unique for a kid this age. He was always thinking of others rather than himself. Everybody loved him,” said Granite Peaks Principal Michele Callahan. “I hope for a good outcome for him. I know he had big plans.”

Less than two weeks ago, President Obama spoke about children of undocumented immigrants in his State of the Union address in glowing terms, praising them for their productivity and promise to the American fabric. Unfortunately, without discretionary relief, students like David Morales find themselves in deportation.

Please help Deyvid Morales stay in this country.

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