Thread: NM: Mexican father faces deportation

Mexican father faces deportation
Father facing deportation throws family in limbo
Updated: Sunday, 27 Feb 2011, 1:42 PM MST
Published : Sunday, 27 Feb 2011, 1:39 PM MST

BALTAZAR MARTINEZ,Santa Fe New Mexican

SANTA FE (AP) - "Feliz Navidad y Ano Nuevo Papi. Te Queremos Mucho."

Last December, 10-year-old Erica Lira wrote a message to her father wishing him a happy Christmas and telling him how much the family loved him.

Her mother, Margarita Arellano, took a picture of Erica holding the handwritten sign — illustrated with a Christmas tree — and sent it to her husband, who is being held at an immigration processing facility in Chaparral in southern New Mexico.

In Santa Fe, Arellano and the couple's four U.S.-born children spent the holidays without him. There was no money for presents or even a Christmas dinner. A family friend bought them small gifts and a pizza.

Now they face a more uncertain future. Jorge Hugo Lira Garcia, who has lived and worked steadily in Santa Fe for 16 years, does not have documents and could be deported to Mexico.

On Dec. 13, the 37-year-old printer was stopped by a Santa Fe police officer for a traffic violation and booked into the county jail. He did not have a driver's license or car insurance. According to online court records, he had three outstanding warrants for failure to appear, all related to unpaid traffic tickets issued in 2008 and 2009. Fees totaled $1,413.

Two days after his arrest, Lira Garcia was released to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sent to the Otero County Detention Center. A judge set his bond for release at $15,000. His attorney, Amara Aaron, plans to appeal.

Lira Garcia, who has a hearing set March 8, is charged with entering the country without proper permission and for being a Mexican national who entered without proper inspection, Aaron said.

"It was an oversight on my part, I admit it. I made a mistake," said Lira Garcia during a telephone conversation from the detention center. He said he did not pay the traffic fines because he never had enough money and because he was afraid of showing up in court.

"I heard stories of people being deported, and that scared me," Lira Garcia said.

A report by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General indicates that between 1998 and 2007, 2.1 million "alien removals" involving 108,434 parents of U.S.-citizen children occurred.

The deportation of a parent is especially tough on children, according to local school counselors. They say they often hear stories about kids being afraid to attend school once ICE has detained a family member.

"Their grades start dropping, and emotionally, they start exhibiting different types of emotions by crying or by fighting. It's one extreme to another," said Frances Maestas, a school counselor at Agua Fria Elementary School. "It's a big problem for us, and I feel bad for them."

Elizabeth Bunker, counselor at Cesar Chavez Elementary School, said in December alone, eight of the families she works with had a family member taken into ICE custody. She talks with parents about having a plan B in case they are caught by immigration officials while their children are in school.

Lira Garcia's wife and children are struggling to get along without his income and guidance.

Carlos Lira, 11, a sixth-grader at Agua Fria, said, "I have a lot of friends here, and mostly we were born here, so we don't want to leave."

Not having his father around is distressing for Javier, 13.

"For the first few days, I sat here. My dad would always come through that door," he said pointing to the entrance to the family's uncluttered three-bedroom apartment.

On the surface, their days are routine. Arellano, a stay-at-home mom, gets up to make breakfast for the children, then drops them off at their schools. Carlos has guitar lessons on Thursdays, and Erica and Javier have dance practice on Fridays or Saturdays. Jorge, 14, spends his time studying. He's a freshman at Capital High School.

While the children are in school, Arellano assembles documents for her husband's case: copies of income tax returns, bills, contact information for acquaintances who can provide letters of support. The children wrote letters asking the immigration judge to let their father stay in the U.S.

Albuquerque immigration attorney Amara Aaron thinks Lira Garcia might be eligible for a waiver under immigration law that would allow him to remain in this country. She will need to show deporting him would cause the family "extreme and extraordinary hardship," that he has resided in the U.S. for 10 straight years and is of "good moral character," she said.

Traffic violations should not be enough to deport him, Aaron argues.

Besides the traffic violations, court records show Lira Garcia was sued twice by the same landlord for not paying rent on time. He said he and his wife planned to use this year's income tax refund to pay off the nearly $3,000 owed in late fees and past-due rent.

"It's true that maybe we've had trouble managing our money, but another part of it is that we simply don't have enough to pay everything," Arellano said.

She and Lira Garcia married in Guadalajara, Mexico, 16 years ago and emigrated to New Mexico one week later. They've lived in Santa Fe since and have never returned to Guadalajara, she said.

___

Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican

http://www.kasa.com/dpps/news/mexican-f ... on_3732018

"It's true that maybe we've had trouble managing our money, but another part of it is that we simply don't have enough to pay everything," Arellano said.

You also have trouble keeping your legs crossed. FOUR kids and you're a "stay-at-home" mom??? You got money for dance lessons, but not rent? How much welfare are WE taxpayers paying for your spawn???

DEPORT!

She and Lira Garcia married in Guadalajara, Mexico, 16 years ago and emigrated to New Mexico one week later.

Uh NO, they did NOT emigrate here if they had they wouldn't be in the trouble they are in. Hopping a border IS NOT the same as emigrating, but that doesn't make for a sob story now does it? The guy ignored fines, kept right on driving even though he had been cited before, had no insurance and held a job he had no right to... and we are supposed to feel bad for him? Not likely! They knew what they were doing so the solution is to take the entire family BACK to Messico.

Enough of the sob stories

Deport the who bunch

Why exactly do we need or want people like this ? What do they offer this country? Now we have 4 more anchor potential gang bangers here

They don't want to leave , tough , throw them over the border and let mexico deal with it

ITS NOT OUR PROBLEM

Originally Posted by Justthefacts

Enough of the sob stories

Deport the who bunch

Why exactly do we need or want people like this ? What do they offer this country? Now we have 4 more anchor potential gang bangers here

They don't want to leave , tough , throw them over the border and let mexico deal with it

ITS NOT OUR PROBLEM

And that really is the bottom line!

On Dec. 13, the 37-year-old printer was stopped by a Santa Fe police officer for a traffic violation and booked into the county jail. He did not have a driver's license or car insurance. According to online court records, he had three outstanding warrants for failure to appear, all related to unpaid traffic tickets issued in 2008 and 2009. Fees totaled $1,413.

Two days after his arrest, Lira Garcia was released to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sent to the Otero County Detention Center. A judge set his bond for release at $15,000. His attorney, Amara Aaron, plans to appeal.

Lira Garcia, who has a hearing set March 8, is charged with entering the country without proper permission and for being a Mexican national who entered without proper inspection, Aaron said.

"It was an oversight on my part, I admit it. I made a mistake," said Lira Garcia during a telephone conversation from the detention center. He said he did not pay the traffic fines because he never had enough money and because he was afraid of showing up in court.

So he couldn’t afford to pay his traffic citations, but he can suddenly afford a private immigration attorney to fight his deportation case! Funny how that works!

Any judge who believes this BS being presented isn’t paying attention!

These people are lying scam artists who have a BS answer for everything

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

Traffic violations should not be enough to deport him, Aaron argues.

Really?????

How about entering the country illegally? I thought that was enough to deport an illegal alien. No wonder they all come here. Even when they "get caught", they don't get deported.

Lira Garcia, who has a hearing set March 8, is charged with entering the country without proper permission and for being a Mexican national who entered without proper inspection, Aaron said.

"It was an oversight on my part, I admit it. I made a mistake,"

An oversight? Sneaking across the border is an oversight?

Originally Posted by miguelina

"It's true that maybe we've had trouble managing our money, but another part of it is that we simply don't have enough to pay everything," Arellano said.

You also have trouble keeping your legs crossed. FOUR kids and you're a "stay-at-home" mom??? You got money for dance lessons, but not rent? How much welfare are WE taxpayers paying for your spawn???

DEPORT!

So true. How are they living? Of course its welfare. She does have those 4 anchors. It also says after breakfast she "drops off" her anchors at school. So is mamasita pulling the same driving w/o license and insurance stunt that her loving husband pulled? I hope cops are watching her illegal ass.

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

Lira Garcia, who has a hearing set March 8, is charged with entering the country without proper permission and for being a Mexican national who entered without proper inspection, Aaron said.

"It was an oversight on my part, I admit it. I made a mistake,"

An oversight? Sneaking across the border is an oversight?

And here I was thinking an "oversight was forgetting to take out the trash. Yeah...just shaking my head in amazement and laughing! Does anyone actually believe this other than the illegal invader and his immigration attorney!