Immigration Dilemma: A Mother Torn From a Baby

www.nytimes.com

JULIA PRESTON
Published: November 17, 2007

Federal immigration agents were searching a house in Ohio last month when they found a young Honduran woman nursing her baby.

SaÃ*da Umanzor, an illegal immigrant who was detained last month and separated from her 9-month-old, Brittney Bejarano.


The woman, SaÃ*da Umanzor, is an illegal immigrant and was taken to jail to await deportation. Her 9-month-old daughter, Brittney Bejarano, who was born in the United States and is a citizen, was put in the care of social workers.

The decision to separate a mother from her breast-feeding child drew strong denunciations from Hispanic and women’s health groups. Last week, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency rushed to issue new guidelines on the detention of nursing mothers, allowing them to be released unless they pose a national security risk.

The case exposes a recurring quandary for immigration authorities as an increasing number of American-born children of illegal immigrants become caught up in deportation operations. With the Bush administration stepping up enforcement, the immigration agency has been left scrambling to devise procedures to deal with children who, by law, do not fall under its jurisdiction because they are citizens.

“We are faced with these sorts of situations frequently, where a large number of individuals come illegally or overstay and have children in the United States,â€