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Colotl's immigration lawyer, Charles Kuck, said he intends to seek an extension of that deferred status. If Colotl is convicted on the felony charge of making a false statement, it will be virtually impossible to get a judge to agree to extend the deferral, Kuck said. But he said he is almost positive that the district attorney will dismiss those charges. Cobb County District Attorney Pat Head did not immediately return a call Friday seeking comment. Colotl is evaluating whether to return to Kennesaw State, but said she is certain she will graduate from college. "I really believe that something positive should come out of this, probably an immigration reform or at least the DREAM Act," she said. The DREAM Act, or Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors, would apply to illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before the age of 16, have a high school diploma and have shown high moral character, among other requirements. The bill has been introduced many times in Congress but has yet to make it through. It's unclear how many people would qualify under the most recent version of the act, which could be folded into a larger immigration reform bill or pushed on its own. Both Taylor and Kuck are representing Colotl without charge. Colotl and her lawyers were flanked by about a dozen representatives from civil liberties and immigrant rights groups at Friday's news conference. They called for ICE to revoke the Cobb County Sheriff's Office's participation in a program known as 287(g), which allows local law enforcement agents to help enforce federal immigration laws. "We are calling for an immediate termination of the 287(g) agreement in Cobb County," said Azadeh Shahshahani of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, adding that her office has contacted the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, and the U.S. Department of Justice, asking them to look into Cobb County's use of the program. DHS spokesman Matt Chandler declined to comment and U.S. DOJ did not immediately return a call seeking comment late Friday.
[Associated
Press;
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