Immigrant of the Day: Ayded Reyes (Mexico), Cross Country Star, Star Student

Here is an uplifting sports story to end the year — and hopefully it will have a happy ending. Ayded Reyes, age 20, attends Southwestern College in Chula Vista near San Diego. She is California’s top-ranked women’s junior college cross country athlete. Reyes has a 3.50 GPA and is a community volunteer who has worked extensively with children and the elderly. Reyes, however, is undocumented. Her parents brought her to the United States from Mexico illegally when she was 2 years old. She has no memory of Mexico and has four younger U.S. citizen siblings who were born here.

Reyes is facing deportation to a country she does not know. The good news is that she has a pro bono attorney (Jacob Sapochnick) and a Congressman Bob Filner (D-Calif.), who has introduced a private bill in Congress to regularize Reyes’ immigration status. Both are fighting to keep Ayded Reyes in teh United States.

KJ