By Tracy Breton

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — An illegal immigrant from Mexico who was deported after her 2005 conviction on child neglect and cruelty charges has permanently lost custody of her two young children, one of whom was born in Mexico, the other in Rhode Island.

The children — who have been in the custody of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families — have been living together in a Rhode Island foster home for several years and the foster parents now plan to adopt them, according to a lawyer for the DCYF. The son will be 8 in August; the daughter turned 5 last week.

The parental custody case of Rosalia Lopez-Navor provides a window into the usually secret world of illegal immigration. It is also a case study of how authorities dealt with what the Rhode Island Supreme Court calls “horrific abuseâ€