Thread: Maybe they "forgot" they were Illegal

Ky Plaskon, Reporter
Some Illegal Immigrants Not Mindful of Deportation

May 26, 2006, 11:50 PM EDT


Ahibar Madrigal, illegal immigrant


Gonzalo Rios, legal immigrant

The arrest and deportation of nearly 200 immigrants in the Las Vegas area is causing concerns across the local immigrant community.

After years in the United States some of the wives whose husbands were arrested and deported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid tell Eyewitness News the risk of deportation is one they are willing to take.

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice says it's the families' fault. "ICE doesn't separate families. Families make decisions that might cause them one day to be separated and that is something they need to consider."

At the Mexican Consulate Friday one family was making a decision that could lead to pain and suffering. They were getting identification so that illegal immigrant Ahibar Madrigal and his 19-year-old pregnant wife can give birth in an American hospital.

The idea of being deported never crossed Madrigal's mind. "No, we never thought about that. Immigration officials never touched me over the six years I have been here. Not even when I crossed illegally. And now why are going to kick me out?"

He has two children -- American citizens -- so he thinks he has a legal right to stay. "Many people think it is that way. We think it is that way, many people have gained citizenship through their children who are citizens."

Gonzalo Rios was at the consulate, too. He knows there is a lot of misunderstanding among immigrants. "Many people are ignorant and think that because they have a child here in the U.S. they have the right to be here, but the laws don't say that."

Rios says people don't know the law, and it's the children who end up suffering when the parents are deported.

Rios told Eyewitness News that Mexico started a TV campaign this year to educate immigrants that having children in the U.S. doesn't give them any protection. They can still be deported.

Email reporter Ky Plaskon at kplaskon@klastv.com



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Send the kids, too, they're not Americans either.

MJ

At the Mexican Consulate Friday one family was making a decision that could lead to pain and suffering. They were getting identification so that illegal immigrant Ahibar Madrigal and his 19-year-old pregnant wife can give birth in an American hospital.

I guess they just love America sooooo much

"Many people think it is that way. We think it is that way, many people have gained citizenship through their children who are citizens."

a minor child becomes a citizen when his parents are 'NATURALIZED' -- too many people are putting the cart before the horse