Big winner at Tucson casino is deported

William Pitts The Republic | 12 NewsThu Jan 3, 2013 11:48 PM

Mirna Valenzuela and her daughter Zamira Osorio hit a $1,200 jackpot last month at Tucson’s Casino del Sol Resort. But instead of collecting her slot-machine winnings, Valenzuela was deported.

Federal law requires casinos to ask for identification for tax purposes whenever someone wins a jackpot of $1,200 or more. Casino officials questioned the ID that Valenzuela showed them on Dec. 3 as potentially fraudulent. Because the casino is on tribal land, officials called Pascua Yaqui police.

Police eventually determined that Valenzuela’s ID was valid, according to casino officials.

In the process, police also determined that she and her daughter were undocumented immigrants from Mexico.

So, they turned both over to the U.S. Border Patrol, which deported Valenzuela.
Osorio said she was released as qualifying for President Barack Obama’s deferred-action program. Border Patrol officials didn’t reply by deadline to requests for comment on the case.

“If they don’t want anybody illegally there, they should put up a sign that says that they don’t want anybody who’s illegal, you know, playing at the casino,” Osorio said, adding, “This is really unfair. We feel really discriminated (against). ... This is the first time I got arrested in my whole entire life.”

In theory, at least, under current Obama administration policies, undocumented immigrants who haven’t committed crimes aren’t supposed to be deported.

According to Osorio, her mother has been deported several times before.

At the casino, officials have been quick to say they don’t seek to determine the legal status of gamblers.

“It’s not our policy to report people unless they’ve committed a serious crime,” said Wendell Long, chief executive officer of Casino del Sol Resort. “A large portion of our business is Mexican-Americans and Mexicans from Sonora.”

Had Valenzuela won one dollar less, the issue of an ID never would have come up, he said.

“We’re not here to deport people,” Long said, saying that this is the first time since the casino opened in 2001 that such an incident has happened. The Pascua Yaqui Police Department did not return calls seeking comment.

Osorio, who is now taking care of three younger siblings, said her mother is still in Mexico. “It’s very sad, but I’ve spoken with her, and she’s all right,” she said.

Valenzuela’s winnings, meanwhile, are still at the casino. She’ll have to claim them in person with a valid ID, Long said.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/20130103tucson-casino-big-winner-deported.html