Thread: Dad seeks asylum for kids, saying they were abused

Dad seeks asylum for kids, saying they were abused
BY DAVE MARCUS | dave.marcus@newsday.com
July 23, 2008
A Brentwood contractor from Honduras wants a federal immigration judge to use his three children to establish a new reason for asylum - sexual abuse.

Margarito Mejia says his children should be allowed to stay in the United States because they were abused by a relative in Honduras.

Mejia lives in the United States legally, under a rule that granted Hondurans work permits after a 1998 hurricane. U.S. Immigration agents caught his son, now 11, and two daughters - now 14 and 13 - sneaking across the Rio Grande into Texas in 2005. The children were detained for two days before they were released to await a hearing.

Under immigration law, refugees are eligible for asylum if they have been persecuted because of race, religion, national origin, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. The law does not mention sexual abuse.



Judge Gabriel Videla in Manhattan postponed his decision until Oct. 10 after questioning the family as well as two lawyers for Immigration Customs Enforcement, which wants to deport the children.

"If my children have to go, I will have no choice but to leave - I cannot be separated from them," their father said as he left the court.

If the judge allows the children to stay, that could help set a precedent for similar cases, legal experts say.

"They deserve asylum because of the persecution they received in their home country, sexually and physically," said Mejia's lawyer, David Sperling of Huntington.

Some disagree. "It's a complete distortion of the intent of the law," said Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that calls for tougher immigration rules.



http://www.newsday.com/news/local/crime ... 8481.story

I sense mass sexual abuse in the world perhaps a few billion cases.

There is no end to this non sense.

"If my children have to go, I will have no choice but to leave - I cannot be separated from them," their father said as he left the court.

THEN BY ALL MEANS, GO HOME TO HONDURAS WITH YOUR CHILDREN! It sounds like they need their father there with them and NOT HERE.

Many children are sexually abused in America all the time. Does that mean they get to PICK a country where they will all live, regardless whether or not that country wants them or if it would be legal or not?

Poor children everywhere

Many children are sexually abused in America all the time. Does that mean they get to PICK a country where they will all live, regardless whether or not that country wants them or if it would be legal or not?

How about move somewhere else in your own country? LOL....I would just love to try these lame excuses and see how open any other country would be to taking me.

"If my children have to go, I will have no choice but to leave - I cannot be separated from them," their father said as he left the court.

Perfect!! Good daddy .. take your kids back to your homeland. BTW WHY WEREN'T YOU THERE WITH THEM WHILE THEY WERE BEING SEXUALLY ABUSED???


Schmuck.

Originally Posted by SeaTurtle

"If my children have to go, I will have no choice but to leave - I cannot be separated from them," their father said as he left the court.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??????????
Leave already and dont let the door hit you on the way out

1998 program after a hurricane and still here? im sure his country is back to normal TEN YEARS after the damn storm

Is there any evidence of sexual abuse or does the judge just take dad's word?
So dad came legally, but did not bring the kids? I thinks it is time for Dad to escort his children back home.

Brentwood contractor from Honduras wants a federal immigration judge to use his three children to establish a new reason for asylum - sexual abuse.

Margarito Mejia says his children should be allowed to stay in the United States because they were abused by a relative in Honduras

.


I don't give a %$$##! Take it up with the authorities in Honduras! Also notice this guy has been here since 1998 on a "workers permit." I guess a "workers permit" is citizenship cloaked in some obsecure permit these people were granted because of a hurrican, 10 YEARS AGO!!

American being fleeced once again by the entire world!