Undocumented Teen Wins Rare Reprieve

Though he sounds like any other American teenager, 17-year-old Yves is not American in the strictest legal sense. His parents, immigrants from India and Bangladesh, were never able to regularize their status in the United States. Yves was 14 months old when he came to the U.S. And he has spent his entire life living in the shadow of his parents’ uncertain status even as they built their lives in Maryland. His brother, born in the U.S., is an American citizen.

It’s meant he cannot do a lot of things his peers took for granted. He cannot get a driver’s license. He wanted to be a doctor but could not get an internship at the local hospital. He took French for many years but couldn’t go on a class trip to France.

Yves just kept his head down and doggedly pursued his studies hoping his 3.8 GPA would help him realize his dream to become a doctor.

A broken taillight led to everything unraveling. His father got pulled over in 2008 and the police went through his records. - New America Media