HOUSTON – Just last month, the Biden administration moved to publish a federal rule to protect Dreamers, children brought to the US illegally by their migrant parents. Currently, the Department of Homeland Security is not accepting new DACA applications, to comply with a federal court ruling.
Kevin Castillo-Atkinson is now 30 years old. He came to the US from Honduras when he was 12. An only child, he fled from his home country with his parents in 2003.
The once scared child with a soft voice is now an attorney practicing immigration law and hoping to be the voice for other immigrants.
“I am a Dreamer,” explained Castillo-Atkinson. “I was extremely afraid to leave. I had a very comfortable life; my parents were very established in Honduras and it was starting over here in the US.”
Castillo-Atkinson said it was that comfortable life that forced them to flee.
“My father was kidnapped. We had a home robbery, which was a traumatic experience for my parents and myself, and we decided on that day we could no longer be in Honduras because of the violence,” said Castillo-Atkinson.
Now, he’s hoping to help other people in similar situations.
“I don’t want to be a voice; I want to be their voice. I want to make sure it is never silenced, because I have experienced firsthand what they are going through,” Castillo-Atkinson said.
Castillo-Atkinson graduated at the top of his class at Thurgood Marshal School of Law.
“I graduated number nine in my class,” Castillo-Atkinson said.
In October, Castillo-Atkinson opened Castillo-Atkinson Law Firm.
Focused on immigration law, he has branched out to criminal, family and personal injury.
As of 2020, more than 107,000 Dreamers called Texas home, according to American Immigration Council.
