Tag: Luis Juárez

Luis Alonso Juárez (center) delivers remarks at the Legislative Building in Raleigh on Sept. 4, 2025. (Photo by Greg Childress/NC Newsline)

At a press conference in Raleigh on Thursday, Luis Alonso Juárez, a popular Duke University bus driver at risk of losing his protected immigration status, told supporters and lawmakers that he’s concerned about his safety if he’s forced to return to his native Honduras.

Juárez and as many 50 supporters, many of them Duke students, rode a chartered bus to Raleigh, first stopping by U.S. Sen. Ted Budd’s (R-NC) office on Fayetteville Street to deliver a letter requesting support before marching to the legislature to drop off letters at the offices of House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger, both Republicans. Neither were available to meet with Juárez.

“Sometimes, you’re like scared over there [Honduras],” Juárez said during a press conference at the Legislative Building, explaining that he’s heard stories about dangerous criminal organizations from others who have traveled to the country.

Juárez was granted Temporary Protected Status in 1998, according to Siembra NC, an immigrant advocacy group. That status will expire Sept. 8 because of a Trump administration order terminating TPS protection for Honduras.

Because Juárez entered the U.S. without inspection or authorization and is not married to a U.S. citizen, under current immigration law he does not qualify for another form of protection like a work visa or green card. Without protected status, Juárez and as many as 51,000 other Hondurans across the U.S. will be eligible for removal.

Immigration attorneys have advised Juárez that his only short-term path to retain a work permit would be for the Trump administration to grant an extension of protection from removal, much like it did in his first term. In 2021, President Donald Trump issued a Deferred Enforced Departure designation for Venezuelans present in the U.S. on or before Jan. 20, 2021, which granted them 18 months of deferred removal and employment authorization. He has twice extended such protections for Liberians.

Juárez and others losing their protected status are also concerned about losing their jobs on Monday when the Trump administration order takes hold.

“I’m asking Sen. Ted Budd, Sen. Phil Berger and Rep. Destin Hall to call the president to make possible that I can keep my job as a driver at Duke, and helping students learn,” Juárez said through an interpreter.

Nikki Marin Baena, co-director at Siembra NC, said there are tens of thousands of workers like Juárez who make North Carolina one of the best states in the nation for doing business.

“Luis [Juárez] has done nothing wrong that would change his immigration status,” Baena said. “And still, like so many others, he is about to have no legal protections after two decades of working for our state’s second largest employer, simply because one person in Washington decided that immigrant workers are expendable.”

Baena said that Berger, Budd and Hall have all touted North Carolina as the best state in which to do business. She noted that Budd has argued in Washington that highly skilled immigrants are essential to the nation’s success.

“Use your influence with the president,” Baena said. “Say the same thing to him that you have told North Carolina, that workers who show up day after day to make this state run are not expendable, they are the reason North Carolina is thriving, and workers like Luis [Juárez] deserve to stay.”

Thursday’s press conference was hosted by state Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham.

“Is Durham going to be the next city that has the National Guard brought in by the president?” Morey asked. “Are we going to be the next city with ICE officers grabbing people like Luis [Juárez] because of their immigration status?”

Rep. Maria Cervania, D-Wake, said immigrants such as Juárez are the “foundation” of the state and nation.

“He probably didn’t want to leave a country that he was born in, had dreams in, but he came here to be free, to get a better life and actually make a better life for all of us too,” Cervania said.

Michael Ramos, a Duke senior from California, said Juárez has become family.

“My mom works as a custodian at a university back home in California, and so, seeing Luis and other workers around campus instantly connects me to my home,” Ramos said, growing emotional.

After 30 years of living and working in the Durham community, Ramos said Juárez deserves to remain in the country.

“Duke would not be the same without Luis [Juárez],  Ramos said. “Let’s be honest, and I would not be the same without him either.”

Ramos announced that a fund is being started to help Juárez replace income he’s expected to lose starting Monday if he’s let go by Duke.

Juárez has become a popular figure on the Duke campus. He was profiled in the Duke Chronicle in February. And last month, 477 students, faculty and staff submitted letters of support for Juárez to Duke Visa Services, asking the university to take action on his behalf.

Juárez is well-known across Duke’s campus with students calling his the “party bus” because of the music he blasts. His many supporters say he has brought joy to their lives by playing lively music on his route.

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