KSU Coed Posts Bond

Published May 14, 2010 at 5:38 p.m.

(WSB Radio)  A 21-year-old Kennesaw State coed whose illegal immigrant status stirred up controversy has bonded out of the Cobb County jail.

 

Jessica Colotl is accused of giving a false address on a jail booking form.  She was arrested March 30, one day after being cited for impeding the flow of traffic on KSU's campus, when she was unable to provide a valid driver's license.

 

The address Colotl allegedly gave on the booking form is a Duluth apartment where the current resident says Colotl hasn't lived for at least five months. The charge of providing a false statement is a felony punishable by up to five years behind bars and a $1,000 fine.

 

Colotl posted $2,500 bond and left the jail with her legal team around 11:40 Friday morning.  (Picture from the AJC)  A news conference is planned for 2:00 p.m.

 

The student's legal status became mired in controversy when the Mexico native was arrested, and Kennesaw State President Daniel Papp urged federal immigration officials--to whom Colotl was turned over after her arrest--to delay her deportation in order to finish her degree.  According to friends, she is two semesters shy of graduation.  Anti-immigration activists were upset that Colotl was playing in-state tuition.  She graduated from high school in DeKalb County with a 3.8 GPA, and was assumed to be a citizen.  Out-of-state and exchange students pay four times the in-state cost.

 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed to defer the deportation, but now an ICE spokesman says the new charges will prompt a review of her case.

 

"Our priority is to remove those who pose the great risk to the security of our communities and national security," Ivan Ortiz-Delgado tells the AJC. "In this case, this woman is not a criminal alien. That does not mean we are going to look the other way and we are not going to process her. But our priority is the removal of dangerous convicted criminal aliens."

 

The ACLU says Colotl's case illustrates how the 287 (g) program, which was designed to find illegal immigrants who are violent criminals, is being abused by local law enforcement and results in more arrests of minor offenders like Colotl.

 

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