A 24-year-old undocumented migrant has been arrested after pretending to be a 16-year-old student to enroll in an Ohio high school, officials say.
Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra was attending a public high school in Perrysburg, Ohio, a two-hour drive northwest of Columbus, when authorities say they discovered that he was a Venezuelan father and residing in the U.S. illegally.
Labrador Sierra was charged with forgery after officials learned he enrolled in the high school with fraudulent documents.
In November 2023, a person claiming to be Labrador Sierra told the school that he was trafficked from Venezuela and now lived in Perrysburg, according to police documents obtained by WTVG.
He claimed he was 16 years old and wanted to enroll as a student, which he did in January 2024 after providing what he claimed was a Venezuelan birth certificate.
Labrador Sierra had been active in the school community as a member of the junior varsity soccer and swim teams, school officials told Fox News Digital.
In March 2024, the undocumented migrant moved into the home of a local family who had previously adopted children and housed exchange students. The family was eventually granted permanent guardianship of the undocumented migrant and aided him in obtaining a Social Security number and an Ohio driver’s license.
The high school said he also had Temporary Protective Status and had filled out an application for a visa.
The Department of Homeland Security told Fox News that Labrador Sierra first came to the U.S. in 2019 and had overstayed his visa.
On May 14, the mother of Labrador Sierra’s child contacted his new guardians and showed them an Ohio driver’s license under his name with a birthdate of March 27, 2001, and a Social Security card that said valid for work only with DHS authorization, per police.
The guardians then reported to the high school that they had information indicating he was not a minor, per school officials.
Labrador Sierra is said to have denied the guardians’ allegation in a meeting with district administrators.
School officials then directed the guardians to keep Labrador Sierra off school property while police investigated.
The undocumented migrant was arrested on Monday during a traffic stop.
