For Immediate Release: June 13, 2025
Contact: Fermin Vasquez at [email protected]
Utah Dreamer and TheDream.US Scholar, Caroline Dias Goncalves, Detained After Traffic Stop
Washington, DC – Just days after TheDream.US Scholar and Georgia college student Ximena Arias Cristóbal testified in the U.S. Senate about her detention by ICE, another Dreamer and TheDream.US Scholar, Caroline Dias Goncalves, has been detained by immigration authorities following a traffic stop while traveling in Colorado. Read more about Caroline’s story in the Salt Lake Tribune HERE.
Caroline, a 19-year-old University of Utah student who has lived in Utah since arriving from Brazil at age 7, is currently being held at a Colorado immigration detention center. Her friends describe her as an avid country music fan and a dedicated student at the University of Utah. In this year’s TheDream.US Scholar Survey, Caroline shared:
“I want to succeed, have a family, make a change living in America.”
“My biggest supports this year were my friends, my family, and of course the team at the Dream Center who always helped me when I needed help.”
TheDream.US President and CEO Gaby Pacheco said:
“Like I said earlier this week: Dreamers are under attack. That was not hyperbole. Now, another one of our Scholars, Caroline, is being held in ICE detention and faces potential deportation. Is this really the path forward? Does detaining young students make America safer? Absolutely not.
We’re in the middle of our Scholarship renewal season for the fall semester. The first step for every Scholar is to complete the scholarship survey, which Caroline dutifully did. It was a surprise that she did not renew her scholarship this year, but now we understand why.
Caroline should be released from detention and returned to her family, community, and life in Utah as soon as possible. And all of us should redouble efforts to ensure permanent status for Dreamers like Caroline and Ximena. Education, not detention and deportation. Every day we delay is another day students like Caroline are put at risk instead of treated like the future leaders they are.”
Earlier this week, Ximena Arias Cristóbal testified at a Senate Judiciary Democrats “spotlight forum,” recounting her detention after police in Dalton, Georgia, pulled over the wrong car. Charges were dropped, but she was transferred to ICE custody and held for over two weeks.
TheDream.US Scholar Ximena Arias Cristóbal shared a message of solidarity with Caroline:
I know what it feels like to be in detention. It’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, especially not another young person like Caroline who, just like me, was trying to live her life and go to school. Being locked away from your family, your education, and your future is terrifying. It hurts to know that Caroline is now experiencing that same fear and isolation.
As I said at the spotlight forum earlier this week: we need action now. Dreamers should not have to continue living in fear. We’ve grown up here, we contribute, we belong, and we need permanent protections to reflect that. No one should have to relive what I went through just to feel safe in the only home they’ve ever known.”
Read more about Caroline’s story in the Salt Lake Tribune HERE.
See the Change.org petition for Caroline HERE.
Read Ximena’s testimony before Senate Judiciary Democrats HERE.
Read the recent NBC News story, “College student’s immigration detention highlights Dreamers’ growing deportation risks”
TheDream.US is the nation’s largest college and career success program for undocumented immigrant students, having provided more than 12,000 college scholarships to Dreamers attending over 80 partner colleges in 21 states and Washington, DC. We believe everyone, regardless of where they were born, should have equitable access to a college education, a meaningful career, and opportunities to contribute to the communities they call home. For more information on TheDream.US, visit www.thedream.us
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