Chula Vista Congressman Bob Filner said he was contacted over the weekend by the family of a female Southwestern College student after she was detained by authorities.
“It’s horrendous that this occurred,” said Filner, adding that Reyes was released Monday.
According to sources, Ayded Reyes, 20, who is on the college’s track and field team, was detained last week after her boyfriend was pulled over by a law enforcement official.
Reyes was a passenger in the vehicle.
When the couple was asked to provide identification Reyes could only produce her college ID.
Filner’s office has worked with numerous similar cases over the years and is working on passing a bill that typically stalls any deportation. But he said passing the is bill difficult because Republicans call it amnesty.
“We’re going to try to protect her through a ‘private bill,’ which offers citizenship for a person who is not eligible in other ways,” he said.
San Diego Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency spokeswoman Lauren Mack said ICE agents were aware of the incident but not involved in detaining Reyes.
“ICE did not take her into custody,” she said. “We don’t have an enforcement program where we patrol and pull people over to take them into custody,” Mack said. “We don’t typically get called either, but it depends on what area it’s in and the circumstance.”
San Diego Border Patrol agent and spokesman Simon Scott said even if Reyes was detained by his agency they would not release that infomation.
“We don’t give out names of people who are detained,” he said. “Ever.”
SWC track and field head distance coach Duro Agbede said that Reyes has been a member of the team since 2010 and he recruited her from Mission Bay High School.
“We are only required to recruit California residents in our district,” he said. “We are all a little worried” that she may be deported, he said. “But I believe in the justice system.”
Reyes was born in Mexico but brought to the United States by her parents as a toddler and has been here since, Filner said.
Agbede said that Reyes has attended elementary, junior high and high school in the county.
She is a freshman on Southwestern College’s track and field team and on the all-time top 10 list for the 800-, 3,000-, 5,000- and 10,000-meter distance races for 2011. She also broke two school records this year in the 800- and 1,000-meter races.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Reyes was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The agency did not detain Reyes. The Star-News regrets the error.
This story was updated 10/27/11.
