‘I was scared’: U of U student Caroline Dias Goncalves releases statement, describes ICE detention

SALT LAKE CITY — The University of Utah student who was held for weeks in a Colorado immigration detention facility before she was released Friday, June 20, has issued a statement.

“The past 15 days have been the hardest of my life. I was scared and felt alone. I was placed in a system that treated me like I didn’t matter,” read the statement from Caroline Dias Goncalves, which was published on The Dream.US website.

Dias Goncalves was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs officials on June 5 and was taken to an ICE facility in Aurora, Colorado.

As reported by KSL TV, police in Mesa County issued Dias Goncalves a warning for following too closely behind a semitruck. After this, Dias Goncalves was stopped again by ICE and taken into custody.

Dias Goncalves brought to US by family, legally seeking asylum

KSL NewsRadio previously reported that Dias Goncalves studied nursing at the University of Utah.  She got to Utah 12 years ago, when she was brought to the state by her family. Her lawyer said Dias Goncalves is legally seeking asylum in the United States.

In her statement, Dias Goncalves thanked her friends and family, lawmakers who she said stood up for her and the organizations she said helped her during her detention, including TheDream.US and Casa de Paz.

And she called attention to other detainees she said she met while she was held by ICE. The full statement from Dias Goncalves follows.

The past 15 days have been the hardest of my life. I was scared and felt alone. I was placed in a system that treated me like I didn’t matter. In detention, we were given soggy, wet food – even the bread would come wet. We were kept on confusing schedules. And the moment they realized I spoke English, I saw a change. Suddenly, I was treated better than others who didn’t speak English. That broke my heart. Because no one deserves to be treated like that. Not in a country that I’ve called home since I was 7 years old and is all I’ve ever known.

I want to say thank you—deeply—to my best friends and my family who never stopped fighting for me. Especially to my community, the organizations like TheDream.US and Casa de Paz that stood up for me, the Senators’ offices who made calls and my church community who prayed for me. To my attorney, Jon Hyman, thank you for giving me hope when I had none left.

And even to the ICE officer who detained me — he kept apologizing and told me he wanted to let me go, but his “hands were tied”. There was nothing he could do, even though he knew it wasn’t right. I want you to know—I forgive you. Because I believe that people can make better choices when they’re allowed to.

I hope no one else has to go through what I did. But I know that right now, over 1,300 people are still in that same nightmare in that Aurora detention facility. They are just like me—including other people who’ve grown up here, who love this country, who want nothing more than a chance to belong.

I’m going to try to move forward now—to focus on work, on school, and on healing. But I won’t forget this. And I hope others won’t either. Immigrants like me—we’re not asking for anything special. Just a fair chance to adjust our status, to feel safe, and to keep building the lives we’ve worked so hard for in the country we call home.

Thank you for standing with me. From the bottom of my heart.”

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