Thread: Family hopes for day in court before deportation

Family hopes for day in court before deportation

By david montero
The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published 21 minutes ago • Updated 17 minutes ago

The three sisters with six young children between them stood in front of Salt Lake City’s Temple Square on Monday and begged for a miracle.

Or, at the very least, a court hearing.

"All I ask for is ... for my kids to have a mom and dad so they can stay together with me," Barbara Avelar said.

The 30-year-old mother and her two sisters are scheduled to be deported June 15. Their children — all born in the United States — are free to stay or go back to Mexico with the mothers.

Feeling like they were running out of options, the sisters joined The Salt Lake Dream Team and a variety of activists for a rally outside the church in an attempt to put public pressure on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to consider their cases for administrative closure, which is also known as prosecutorial discretion.

That process — as outlined in ICE Director John Morton’s memo issued in 2011 — allows prosecutors to consider cases involving illegal immigrants who don’t have a criminal record and are considered the lowest priority for deportation and to simply close the case file.

But there is a snag in the Avelar sisters’ case.

In the mid-1990s, the sisters’ mother and father brought the family from Mexico on tourist visas. They overstayed and were eventually discovered. That led to a court appearance, which led to an appeal.

Silvia Avelar, the youngest sister, said that’s when things started to unravel. Her father hired a woman to handle their case, but Avelar said she never filed the proper paperwork. So, Avelar said, they essentially lost the appeal because no case was made on their behalf in court. That triggered the judge to grant a deportation order.

It took ICE about 17 years to track the sisters down in Utah — finally arresting the trio in December 2011.

Now, the sisters would like the chance to go before an immigration judge and tell their story.

Lori Haley, spokeswoman for ICE, said the agency prioritizes efforts to identify criminals in the country illegally or have outstanding removal orders and "the agency exercises prosecutorial discretion on an individual basis, based on the totality of the circumstances in each case."

"All three sisters’ immigration cases have undergone review at multiple levels of our nation’s legal system and the courts have uniformly held they have no legal basis to remain in the United States," she said. "In 1997, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed the sisters’ legal appeals and the women became subject to a final order of deportation."

According to TRAC Immigration statistics, the backlog of deportation cases hasn’t been reduced rapidly.

Through March, the Immigration Court backlog was at 305,556 cases nationally, according to TRAC data. Between November 2011 — when ICE began reviewing the cases that were eligible for administrative closure — and March 2012, the number of cases that have been closed nationally was 2,609.

David Terrazas of The Salt Lake Dream Team said the sisters were desperate to keep their families together. The parents of the sisters were deported in December and are currently living in Mexico City.

Silvia Avelar, who said the whole family is Mormon, said she wants to have faith in the process, but feels like time is running out. She said Utah is the only home they’ve ever known, as the sisters have been living here since they were 8, 10 and 13 years old. Silvia Avelar said she barely remembers anything about Mexico and her young children don’t even speak fluent Spanish.

Sitting in the shade inside Temple Square, she worried about living in Mexico and said she wanted her children to grow up in United States. She worried about her husband, too, who is a legal permanent resident.

"I don’t want to lose faith in anything," she said. "If I fall backwards in faith, then our faith wasn’t strong to begin with. I don’t want to lose faith."

Standing in a blazing hot sun, Silvia Avelar’s 3-year-old daughter silently held a poster board that was almost as tall as she was. It read, "My heart is broken." Not far away, 10-year-old Abigail Avelar — Barbara’s daughter — wept as she feared not having a mother around to "help me with my homework."

She looked up as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Please help," she said softly.

dmontero@sltrib.com Twitter: @davemontero

Family hopes for day in court before deportation | The Salt Lake Tribune

Silvia Avelar, the youngest sister, said that’s when things started to unravel. Her father hired a woman to handle their case, but Avelar said she never filed the proper paperwork. So, Avelar said, they essentially lost the appeal because no case was made on their behalf in court. That triggered the judge to grant a


Another case of the *missing* paperwork. You would think these people would be a little more careful with their damn stuff.

Originally Posted by pattyk

Silvia Avelar, the youngest sister, said that’s when things started to unravel. Her father hired a woman to handle their case, but Avelar said she never filed the proper paperwork. So, Avelar said, they essentially lost the appeal because no case was made on their behalf in court. That triggered the judge to grant a


Another case of the *missing* paperwork. You would think these people would be a little more careful with their damn stuff.

Is she impying that the paperwork wasn't filed because her lawyer was a woman? If I was a woman, I'd be insulted by that comment.

Silvia Avelar said she barely remembers anything about Mexico and her young children don’t even speak fluent Spanish.

She probably didn't know anything about the U.S. when her parents brought her here as a child, but she seems okay with that. Millions of illegals speak no English although they've lived here for years. I don't consider her argument to be valid.

Brought to America as children, 3 mothers now face deportation to Mexico

By Marjorie Cortez, Deseret News


Published: Monday, June 4 2012 10:21 p.m. MDT


Barbara Tapia Avelar, flanked by her sisters, Silvia Juarez Avelar, left, and Laura Rangel Avelar talks at a press conference about a June 15th deportation hearing for the three sisters who were raised in the Salt Lake City area and whose children are American citizens. The family is asking the community to help stop their family's deportation, Monday, June 4, 2012, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Tom Smart, Deseret News)



SALT LAKE CITY — As tears rolled down her face, 10-year-old Abigail Tapia pleaded for help for her mother, who could be deported to Mexico in less than two weeks.

"Please help so my mom can't leave," she said, gulping back tears at a press conference late Monday afternoon near Temple Square.

The girl's mother, Barbara Tapia Avelar, is one of three sisters who could be deported on June 15 for overstaying their tourist visas — by nearly two decades. The sisters called on the Obama administration Monday to exercise prosecutorial discretion to halt their scheduled deportations. And they held a press conference to raise community awareness about their plight.

Tapia Avelar, Silvia Juarez Avelar and Laura Rangel Avelar came to the United States on tourist visas with their parents in 1993 when they were children. The family stayed, making a life in Utah. Each of the young women graduated from Kearns High School, have jobs and no criminal records, according to a Deseret News check of state court records. Each has children who are U.S. citizens.

The women say federal immigration officials have told them that their parents had a deportation hearing in 1997 and their cases remained in the system.

On Dec. 7, 2010, the sisters were detained by ICE agents. Tapia Avelar said the agents came into their home at 5 a.m. She was still in her pajamas when the agents arrested her in front of her children. Their womens' parents also were detained and deported two days later. The women said they do not know why federal agents decided to act on the old case.

The sisters were placed under the Immigration Customs Enforcement's intensive supervision appearance program, which has meant that the sisters have been required to check in with ICE agents once a month since the ICE action 18 months ago. They are next scheduled to appear on June 13, during which time they expect to receive final deportation orders.

The women, who range in age from 26 to 34, want the immigration court to conduct another review their cases. The women have six children between them, the oldest 10-year-old Abigail. The fathers are not a part of the deportation order.

If someone would just look at our file, they would know they were good people, good citizens," Tapia Avelar said.

The sisters say they believe their circumstances would qualify them for prosecutorial discretion. They have children who are American citizens. They are employed and pay taxes. They are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"That's all we ask for, a judge to hear our case," Tapia Avelar said.

Regional ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said in a statement that the sisters' cases "have "undergone review at multiple levels of our nation’s legal system and the courts have uniformly held they have no legal basis to remain in the United States."

In 1997, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed the sisters’ legal appeals and the women became subject to a final order of deportation, Kice said. The women were taken into custody by ICE Fugitive Operations officers based upon the final removal order.

Tapia Avelar said she believes the sisters should have a separate review of their cases because they were children when the case went before the immigration appeals board. "This isn't our fault. We were brought here when we're very young," she said.

The sisters consider the United States their home. "It's another world to us," Tapia Avelar said of Mexico. "I don't remember much about Mexico. Salt Lake is our home town."

David Terrazas, a spokesman for advocacy organization Salt Lake Dream Team, is encouraging calls to ICE Director John Morton to urge him to stop the deportation of the three women.

Members of the organization also circulated letters urging officials to halt their deportation, that they hope supporters will sign and submit to ICE officials.

Tapia Avelar said an attorney is also working on their behalf to attempt to ask the government to intervene.

A memo issued by the Obama administration in June 2011 informed ICE officials of their prosecutorial discretion with respect to investigations, arrests, detention, parole, initiation of removal proceedings and the execution of final orders.

Officials may take into consideration individuals with serious health conditions, people with serious mental or physical disabilities, pregnant or nursing women, victims of domestic violence and long-time lawful permanent residents, among others factors.

Kice said in a statement that "ICE exercises prosecutorial discretion on an individual basis, based on totality of the circumstance in each case."

“Through smart and effective immigration enforcement, this administration remains committed to prioritizing immigration enforcement resources to target criminal aliens and individuals who put public safety at risk, as well as those who threaten border security or the integrity of the immigration system," she said in a statement.

Tapia Avelar said she and her sisters are law-abiding. The ICE agents who took them into custody "treated us like we were a trophy" because they had not violated any laws, she said.

"It's been a nightmare. We can't sleep at night wondering what is going to happen to us."

Brought to America as children, 3 mothers now face deportation to Mexico | Deseret News


These folks were caught on a VISA overstay four years after they entered the country and were ordered to leave. (1992 - 1997). At 34, the oldest sister, Barbara was over 18 when she received her deportation order. The other two sisters were ordered deported with the parents.

They all ignored the deportation order completely and defied the laws of this country, now they claim to be model citizens.

The Salt Lake City DREAM Team is advocating for them because they all fall into the age designation for the DREAM Act, a law that has been rejected repeatedly by both the people and the Congress of this country. I would question if any of the three are either in college or in the military, two other requirements of the same failed law.

I am sorry that they continued to live their lives here as though they were not under a deportation order and had children and illegally held jobs. But just becasue they had children, I don't think that makes them immune to the law. They made the decision to defy the law and now they don't want to have to live with the consequences of their own actions.

These people always try to come across as innocent and squeeky clean. Fact is, they came here and over stayed a visa. They had children here knowing full well that some day they might be in the situation they are in today. You don't blatantly break a law and expect to have respect and sympathy. If the kids are heart broken, it's because of their mother's bad decisions. These women put themselves and their children in this situation and must pay the consequences.

All illegals have some kind of sob story and refuse to take responsibility for their poor decisions. They all know that someday they could be caught and deported. In the meantime, we have millions of unemployed citizens who have been displaced by illegals and are sick and tired of it.