Thread: Boy 11, Left Parents Deported

I am surprised that the Homestead Police did thi as the city was looking into becoming a sanctuary city. It is nice to see them do the right thing.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breakin ... 74903.html


Boy, 11, left behind as parents are deported
Posted on Wed, Oct. 17, 2007Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@MiamiHerald.com
In an extraordinary move, Miami's Mexican Consulate has gained custody of an 11-year-old boy left behind in Homestead when immigration officials deported his parents recently after police stopped them for driving a vehicle with an expired tag.

Mexican consul-in-charge Beatriz Navarro told The Miami Herald Wednesday that the consulate was working quickly to reunite the boy with his parents, who are now back in their hometown of Morelia.

The consul said the boy's parents were detained after police checked an expired tag on their vehicle -- and then called the Border Patrol when it turned out the parents were in the country illegally. The boy apparently was at school.

It's unclear which police agency handled the case, but the Border Patrol confirmed that the agency arrested the couple and turned them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detention. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it would release a statement later Wednesday.

A friend of the family took the boy to the Krome detention center in Southwest Miami-Dade immigration advocates said, in an effort to reunite the 11-year-old with his family, but guards turned them away last month.

Hermán MartÃ*nez of the American Friends Service Committee and Elvira Carvajal of the Asociación Campesina, said Wednesday that the child was never totally alone because an uncle was living at the house with the deported couple. However, Carvajal said, early on the child was left alone in the house while the uncle went to work. Since then, she said, she and others have cared for the child while the uncle works.

The case, first reported by WTVJ-NBC 6, upset South Florida's immigrant community because it seemed to confirm what they perceive to be the callousness of immigration officials after raids in New Bedford, Mass., when hundreds of illegal workers were detained at a factory and some children were left stranded at home or daycare.

''The police have given us assurances that they don't do the work of immigration agents,'' MartÃ*nez said. ``If they did this it was due to discrimination and racism. They destroyed a family. They destroyed the dreams of these people. They left an employer without employees, a landlord without tenants and a child abandoned.''

In the past, immigration officials have insisted that if a child is involved in a deportation arrest, one parent is allowed to remain free to care for the child -- or at the very least the Department of Children and Families is called to pick up the child and hold him while the couple is in deportation proceedings.

It's unclear whether ICE officials knew the boy existed when they detained the parents.

Navarro said she was unable to verify whether the parents advised immigration officials about their child.

Victor Colón, the Border Patrol spokesman in Pembroke Pines, said Border Patrol officers responded and arrested the couple, but later turned them over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for detention.

The Mexican child's case came to the attention of immigrant rights activists in Homestead when a friend of the deported couple approached them a few days ago with the story that a child had been left behind.

MartÃ*nez said the couple and their child arrived in the United States two years ago, and lived in the Chicago area. They arrived in Homestead about three months ago, he said.

While the couple went to work in a nursery, MartÃ*nez and Carvajal said, the child went to school in the Homestead area. Apparently he was in class when his parents were detained.

MartÃ*nez and Carvajal said they contacted the Mexican consulate for help.

Well how about that....

They left an employer without employees, a landlord without tenants

This whole story goes back to, what if the parents had been arrested for robbing a liquor store? Same thing would have happened to the kid.

The parents put the child in this situation.

The only reason one parent didn't get out was because the child was not an anchor but also an illegal alien.

Also, they are screaming about not letting the child into the adult jail to be with his parents after they pulled that ACLU stunt in Hutto, Texas, where they made all the demands about how the children should be housed. Well, they got what they deserved.

Dixie

Moving to news.

I have a serious problem

I robbed a bank 10 yrs. ago. Running from the law is no fun. Anyway when caught I was wondering if they would allow my children to keep the money. They were not part of the actual robbery itself, they sat in the car.I mean after-all they have adjusted to that way of life now. Wouldnt that fall under a hardship. If they take the money as well as the material things I have purchased. My family will have nothing left. All my hardwork will have been for nothing. After all when is the betterment for ones family a criminal act.

An dont come back with that "illegal" is "illegal" crap

As I said before, It was for the betterment of my family

Besides if you took me to jail, it would cause undue stress.

Im thinking about moving my family to Mexico. I believe we would have a better chance there. It would be easier to convince there representatives then ours.

Ya you think I am crazy..I agree, heh

ANYTIME PARENTS GET CAUGHT BREAKING THE LAW IT WILL UNFORTUNATELY AFFECT THEIR CHILDREN. THAT IS WHY PARENTS SHOULD MAKE DECISIONS VERY CAREFULLY.

I feel for the little boy; but not the family. They put him in this terrible position when they arrived Illegally.

The laws here have been broken so often with terrible results at times to legal citizens... that we the people dont want to hear any humanitarian hardships... enough is enough

Austa La Bye-Bye and take Boosh with you... Oh, dont let the door smack ya in the back side and dont worry, we will turn off the lights

I feel for the little boy; but not the family

I FEEL FOR ALL CHILDREN WHO ARE ADVERSELY AFFECTED BY THEIR PARENTS POOR DECISIONS AND/OR CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. BUT JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE HAS CHILDREN DOES NOT MAKE THEM ABOVE THE LAW. THE LAWS HAVE TO BE ENFORCED.

I WOULD LIKE TO MENTION AT THIS TIME THAT THERE ARE FAMILIES AND CHILDREN INVOLVED IN THE RAMOS/COMPEAN CASE. AND THOSE MEN WERE JUST DOING THEIR JOBS. LIFE IN UNFAIR FOR CHILDREN.

Taking care of the family is the honorable thing to do. Forget all that crime stuff. You have to do what you have to do. You should get food stamps, free housing and everything else to make you comfy. You worked hard for it. And oh yes let the kids keep the money and all the goodies. Kids shouldn't go without.
But wait. Thats only for illegals. You're not illegal so you're up the creek. No goodies for you and yours. Sorry.

This one should have made the front page ....

Same old same old
Mom and dad arnt Americans so nether is the child
end of storey....

I bet the kidy knows about 100 other places criminals are hidding...
Bet we could make a deal... give up the criminals we send you home with mom and dad...
ride the boy around for a week
we have alot to gain.