Thread: Deportation Deadline For Salvadoran Girl At Hand

http://www.nbc17.com/news/5672757/detail.html

DURHAM, N.C. -- A 12-year-old girl is scheduled to leave her father in Durham Tuesday and return to her native El Salvador, but an immigration attorney is making a last-ditch effort to keep her in the U.S.

Ericka Cruz traveled by herself more than three years ago to Durham from Central America after her mother abandoned her. Her father has lived in the Triangle for the past decade and has legal status in the U.S., but an immigration judge has ordered the girl to leave the country.

Hector Cruz told NBC-17 recently that there is no one in El Salvador to care for his daughter, and he doesn't understand why the U.S. courts would try to break up his family.

Raleigh immigration attorney Paul Suhr has been able to delay Ericka's deportation since 2002, but if she doesn't leave the U.S. voluntarily by Tuesday night, she won't be able to apply for legal status in the country for another 10 years.

"I do not think (immigration agents) will come and get her, but she will be in violation of the law," Suhr said.

Hector Cruz has a brother in Canada, and Suhr said that offers an option to get Ericka out of the country without sending her back to a Salvadoran town where drug gangs rule the streets.

"If she goes to Canada, we will tell the immigration court that she complied with the immigration judge's order, and then we will try to see what happens," said Suhr, who plans to continue filing requests with the courts to grant Ericka legal status in the U.S.

This shows how easy it is to get here. She traveled by herself from El Salvador across Mexico to the US border when she was 10.

Hector Cruz told NBC-17 recently that there is no one in El Salvador to care for his daughter, and he doesn't understand why the U.S. courts would try to break up his family.

A real family guy. He abandoned his wife this girl and two sons nine years ago to come here to make more money (see previous articles on web site). He couldn't have been sending too much home since the news articles say they were going hungry in El Salvador.

We should revoke his legal status on grounds of child neglect and deport him back to El Salvador. Then she will have someone to stay with.

those immigration attorneys are the biggest bunch of vultures- trust lawyers to help to stick it to the american people