Thread: {Sob}Beaumont couple opens their door to six children after

12/11/2007
Beaumont couple opens their door to six children after deportation splits family
By ROSE YBARRA , The Enterprise


Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise
Francisco Ceballos, right, looks around while Anthony Aquino, far left, helps Victor Ceballos with his homework in the parking lot of their family’s apartment on Monday.
Francisco Ceballos, 5, sits on the sidewalk, writing his first name over and over on a piece of school paper while his brother, Victor Ceballos, 7, mulls over his English assignment with his new guardian, Christine Norwood.

"You have to read the sentence and figure out if it needs a question mark or a period at the end of it," Norwood explains patiently to Victor as the three sat outside their small apartment in Beaumont Monday afternoon. "Does that sentence sound like it's asking a question?"

By 4:45 p.m., six more children trickle onto the sidewalk after bounding out of Beaumont school buses. Norwood cheerfully greets all of them, asking them about their day, one by one.

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A month ago, Norwood and her husband, Christopher Norwood, went overnight from having two teenage sons under their roof to having eight children after her friend, Esperanza Ceballos, was arrested and jailed. Taken in on what Norwood calls bogus public intoxication charges, Ceballos then was deported to Mexico.

"When we heard she had been arrested, we went over there right away to pick up the kids and they've been with us ever since," Norwood said.

Now, Norwood's brood ranges from a five-year-old to a 16-year-old, including her two sons, Anthony Aquino, 15, and Daniel Aquino, 13.

The Ceballos children are among the thousands of children who have been separated from their parents by the deportation of one or both adults. For every two illegal immigrants deported, one child is left behind, and two-thirds of the affected children are U.S. citizens or legal residents, according to statistics from National Council of La Raza.

Norwood said Esperanza Ceballos made the heart-wrenching decision to leave her children in Beaumont because life in America is all they know. Three of the six children are U.S. citizens and they all have been attending school in the United States since kindergarten. All the children speak English and Spanish perfectly.

"We don't want to go back to Mexico," said an outspoken Esmeralda Ceballos, 13, who was born in Raleigh, N.C. "We want to stay here and go to school. We do miss our mom a lot, but the truth is we have no future in Mexico. This is where we belong. This is our country."

Norwood knew times would be tough but she didn't hesitate for a moment to take the Ceballos kids in.

"We didn't even really think about it," she said. "If something happened to me, I would want somebody to do that for my kids.

"CPS (Child Protective Services) could take them, but then they'd be separated. The kids don't have much, but they are together and they're happy," Norwood said.

It hasn't been an easy road for the children, especially Francisco and Victor, the little ones, who miss their mother, "so, so much," Esmeralda Ceballos said.

"They still need her a lot," she said. "They cry for her."

The little boys aren't the only ones who cry. Esmeralda admits she cries sometimes too.

"Sometimes, it's all just too much to bear, this whole situation," Esmeralda said. "It's not fair that they (the authorities) do this. We're people too. We just want to work and succeed."

Fatima Ceballos, who at 16 is the oldest of all the children, said she wants to be a doctor.

"I don't get squeamish about anything so I think I can handle it," she said.

Norwood smiles as she watches all the boys - hers and Esperanza's - roughhouse and play ball outside.

Norwood said had she not stepped in, the children likely would have been split up and placed in foster care.

She stands by her decision to keep the children but times have tough for her financially.

Norwood said her car was repossessed and it's been a struggle to keep the utilities on because her husband's work as a hydro blaster has been slow lately. Keeping eight children clothed and fed is no easy task either.

"We just have to get past this bump in the road," she said. "We're just backed up on our bills."

Norwood said she's explained to the children that this Christmas won't be like most others because money is tight. This year, they'll be no tree and few presents, if any.

Norwood said some people have offered to take some of the children but she refuses to break her promise to Esperanza Ceballos.

"It's not that we can't take care of them, it's just a little rough right now," she said. "I'm keeping these kids together no matter what."

rybarra@beaumontenterprise.com
(409) 880-0735





©The Beaumont Enterprise 2007
http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/ ... d=19102882

Send 'em home to be with their families!! They are so concerned over them. Maybe Calderon will take them when he comes to visit.

"We don't want to go back to Mexico," said an outspoken Esmeralda Ceballos, 13, who was born in Raleigh, N.C. "We want to stay here and go to school. We do miss our mom a lot, but the truth is we have no future in Mexico. This is where we belong. This is our country."

While I commend the couple for trying to do the help, the above statement gives me pause. The 13 year old is repeating the dogma of all illegals. The kids belong with their mother and should be reunited with her in Mexico.

By the way where is the father?

"They still need her a lot," she said. "They cry for her."

and that is why they should be with her back in Mexico!

Boy, they trained her good, didn't they?

Again, what kind of media actually puts that kind of stuff out there.

No one made them leave their children. If they did, it's because they intend to sneak back - or they are just not good parents and they are not the kind of people we need in this country.

They are using children for their own financial gain - shame on all of them - all of them.

Were the kids in the "mothers" car when she got the DUI?

3 anchors and 3 illegals, how many fathers?

just another drunken La Raza welfare wench?

I was waiting to read their Christmas lists at the end of the story..

I feel like she was simply laying the ground work for donations to help them have a wonderful christmas without "mommy"

Well, I have a Christmas wish for them... I want them reunited with "mommy" in Mexico.

Originally Posted by GRITS

I was waiting to read their Christmas lists at the end of the story..

I feel like she was simply laying the ground work for donations to help them have a wonderful christmas without "mommy"

Well, I have a Christmas wish for them... I want them reunited with "mommy" in Mexico.

they can ask Santa for Bus tickets

they can ask Santa for Bus tickets

I'll buy a ticket.

Taken in on what Norwood calls bogus public intoxication charges, Ceballos then was deported to Mexico.

Bogus--hahahahaha
Maybe the police were doing "drunken behavior profiling" that day.

According to them, no illegal is ever guilty of the crime they are charged with even if caught red-handed......the 'innocent victim' re-runs are getting tiresome.


"We enforce our laws, and we defend law-abiding citizens. And we reserve the benefits of citizenship for legal residents."
Matt Blunt Governor of Missouri