Immigrant mom free, for now
Victor Manuel Ramos
March 6, 2009

A Tavares woman arrested by local police and handed off last week to federal authorities for possible deportation returned Thursday to her three U.S. citizen children after a judge issued a temporary stay in the case.

The arrest of 23-year-old Rita Cote and her weeklong detention by the Lake County Sheriff's Office touched off a controversy over federal immigration enforcement locally.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed a legal challenge, and several other advocacy groups complained that Tavares police were exceeding their powers by meddling in immigration matters.

Cote's release from a transitional detention facility for illegal immigrants in Broward County is temporary.


Debate on illegal immigrants' treatment fueled by arrest, detention of Tavares mother It essentially buys her immigration attorney time to argue for the suspension of her deportation, which could clear the way for her to stay in the country with her American husband and U.S.-born children.

"I am extremely happy," said Cote, reached by telephone shortly after her release. "I am truly grateful with everyone for the help provided to me and my family."

Although the legal fight is not over, her advocates — and especially her husband — were elated.

"There are no words that can express how I feel. She is going to be home," said Robert Cote, her 37-year-old husband.

The couple, married since 2002, have three sons, ages 2, 4 and 7.

They had not applied for her legalization because they lacked the money to do so, Robert Cote said, but now they hope to adjust her status with the advocacy groups' help.

An immigration judge in Harlingen, Texas, halted her deportation to allow for her case to be heard in U.S. Immigration Court in Orlando, said John Barry, her immigration attorney.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials decided to release Cote, also known as Rita "Fany" Enriquez-Perdomo, on her own recognizance until court proceedings.

"This is actually a big deal," Barry said. "It's a victory, and it's a discretionary decision on the part of [immigration officials]."

Cote was arrested Feb. 16 by Tavares police officers, who had responded to a domestic-violence call involving her sister and her sister's boyfriend, who at the time lived in the same home.

The officers discovered Cote is an undocumented immigrant and had a pending deportation order.

The order had been issued after Cote and her mother were stopped by border agents while entering the country illegally. Cote was a teenager at the time.

The ACLU's filing in U.S. District Court said Cote's constitutional rights were violated because she was arrested and detained in a Lake County jail for more than a week, without having committed any criminal violations or having been afforded her day in court.

Neither Lake Sheriff Gary Borders nor Tavares police Chief Stoney Lubins could be reached for comment Thursday, but Borders' office had acknowledged his department erred in detaining Cote for more than the prescribed 48hours in such cases.

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