Gainesville teen football player and family detained by ICE, split across facilities
Sebastian Jimenez Peroza, a 17-year-old Gainesville High School senior who plays football, soccer and baseball, was detained by ICE along with his mother, stepfather and sister at their Gainesville apartment complex days before the school year began. The Venezuelan family (with his stepfather from Brazil) had applied for asylum after moving to the U.S. when Jimenez was 7, following a kidnapping of his mother and sister in Venezuela tied to his mother's social activism. The four were initially taken to an ICE facility in Jacksonville before Jimenez and his mother were transferred to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, with a hearing scheduled for Sept. 8, while his stepfather was sent to Baker Correctional Institution and his sister to Flagler County Jail. Gainesville High football coach Ashour Peera rallied community support, including a banner and Venezuelan flag display at a game, described Jimenez as 'a joy to have around' who checked in on his teammates, and said the family had been 'law-abiding citizens in the community.' A GoFundMe organized by a family friend raised more than $13,000, and the coach sought help from attorneys and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's office.
