Thread: Released immigrant: 'I'm only a mother who wants a family'

Rita Cote is reunited with her husband, Robert, and their 3 sons in Tavares. (TOM BENITEZ, ORLANDO SENTINEL / March 6, 2009)



Rita Cote, the immigrant mother from Tavares who was released Thursday after more than two weeks in detention for her undocumented status, acknowledges that she was wrong to live in the United States illegally after crossing the border with her mother in 2000.

But she thinks Tavares police were wrong to arrest her and send her to the Lake County Jail, rather than investigate the domestic-violence incident they were called for, which involved an altercation between her sister and her sister's boyfriend.

"I don't know why people think they can treat us like we don't have rights if we are all human," said Cote, speaking Friday at her home in Tavares the day after a judge temporarily halted her deportation. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released her while her case is heard in Orlando's U.S. Immigration Court.

"I'm not a criminal. I don't drink. I don't do drugs," said Cote, the 23-year-old undocumented immigrant from Honduras also known as Rita Enriquez-Perdomo. "I'm only a mother who wants a family."



Related links
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Immigration groups seek release of mother of 3
Advocacy groups rallying behind arrested Tavares mother
Rita Cote's story


Rita Cote is a 23-year-old undocumented immigrant from Honduras.

2000: Cote illegally crosses the U.S. border with her mother.

2000s: Cote has 3 children in the U.S. with her husband, Robert.

Feb. 16, 2009: Tavares police officers, called to a domestic-violence incident involving Cote's sister and sister's boyfriend, arrest Cote for her immigration status.

Mid-late February, 2009: Cote is held in Lake County jail for more than a week, not the 48 hours prescribed by detention orders. She spends another week at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in South Florida.

March 5, 2009: A judge temporarily halts Cote's deportation and releases her while her case is heard in Orlando's U.S. Immigration Court.

Tavares officers arrested Cote on Feb.16 because of her immigration status and did not take the man who allegedly had been beating her sister.

Cote's sons — ages 2, 4 and 7 — saw it all happen and were crying for their mother not to leave them as police put her in their patrol car, eventually passing her off to the Lake County Sheriff's Office so deputies could hold her for immigration authorities.

"I really don't know why they did this in front of my kids," Cote said. "That is going to be on my boys' minds forever."

She was then held with the minimum- and medium-custody prisoner population in county jail for more than a week, not the 48hours prescribed by detention orders. The jail's department of internal affairs is investigating the delay.

Cote said she spent those days worrying about her children's future, asking prison guards when immigration would pick her up and sleeping on a cot in a cell shared with two other inmates. She was handcuffed and was shackled at her feet when Tavares police transferred her to ICE custody, Cote said.



'Obeying a federal law'
The Tavares Police Department has not responded to calls for comment, but the Lake County Sheriff's Office said it intends to move forward seeking stronger ties with immigration authorities. Its deputies need to be prepared to apprehend those who have pending deportation orders and other warrants, said Sgt. John Herrell, a spokesman for Sheriff Gary Borders.

"We are obeying a federal law in detaining them," Herrell said. "They are crying publicly that we are making invalid arrests or detention, and it's not at all invalid."

Cote and her husband, 37-year-old Robert Cote, held a news conference Friday afternoon with immigrant advocates at the Farmworkers Association of Florida — an Apopka group among those calling for a halt to local arrests and detention of illegal immigrants without criminal records.

"The Farmworkers Association is thrilled that Rita is back with her family, but the reality is that there are many cases out there where families are torn and they are not getting the legal help or the media attention," said Jeannie Economos, an activist with the group. "There is racial profiling going on in Lake County, and we know of a significant number of people who have been deported."


ACLU to keep fighting
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which led the fight for Cote's release, vowed it will continue fighting over what leaders said were violations of constitutional rights exemplified by Cote's case.

ACLU advocates say Cote was held illegally by the Sheriff's Office and that local officers violate state statute every time they pursue people for immigration violations.

"We are still concerned about the vulnerability of others in the community," said Joyce Hamilton Henry, director of the ACLU's Central Florida office.

For now, Rita Cote just wants to get back to normal life. If she is able to stay in the United States, she aspires to study to become a hairdresser and someday open a hair salon. "I hope I can get papers," she said, "and someday I can work, make everything better for my family."

She wants to see her boys grow up and become whatever they want to in life. She says the older ones already have a career in mind: becoming police officers.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... 5769.story

So then, doing some quick math here, she is 23 years old and has a 7-year-old son, which means she was probably pregnant at 15. Her husband is 37, so he was 29 when she got knocked up? Isn't that statutory rape?? Why isn't he in prison? Why hasn't she been deported along with her children?

"I don't know why people think they can treat us like we don't have rights if we are all human," said Cote

Americans who break the law are also arrested. Quit playing the victim. You're a criminal.

American mothers who are arrested for breaking the law are seldom released to care for their children.

"I really don't know why they did this in front of my kids," Cote said. "That is going to be on my boys' minds forever."

Boo hoo. American kids also see their parents arrested. You're not special.

She wants to see her boys grow up and become whatever they want to in life. She says the older ones already have a career in mind: becoming police officers.

Then they can arrest their mother.

I have seen enough lame sob stories for the rest of my life. I am sick of them. ANYONE can turn their life into a sob story and the illegal aliens are sure trying to use it to their advantage. Deport her and let her take her kid with her...

ILLEGAL ALIENS who are in this country, without a criminal record is a conflict of terms.