Mexican woman with three U.S. citizen children departing country

02:23 PM MST on Monday, December 31, 2007

Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- A 23-year-old Mexican woman with three American-born children, including one just three weeks old, will return voluntarily to Mexico after what supporters call a harrowing experience with authorities during a traffic stop.


Miriam Aviles-Reyes, an illegal immigrant, and the human rights group Derechos Humanos say a Tucson police officer was abusive and called the Border Patrol without necessary cause.


Tucson police spokesmen deny the officer did anything wrong and say the officer was following departmental policy.


Aviles-Reyes went into labor during the traffic stop, and her husband, who was also an illegal immigrant, was deported immediately - before she could deliver her son the next day.


Supporters of Aviles-Reyes say she was given the option of agreeing to a voluntary departure or facing a 10-year ban from entering the country.

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