Thread: Judge in immigrant custody battle orders 5yo girl returned to mom in Mexico

'illegal' dad stays in Queens with new girlfriend
Mexican parents' plot to come to America together fails; dad makes it, mom doesn't

nydailynews.com
By John Marzulli / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Monday, January 9 2012, 2:30 PM
Updated: Monday, January 9 2012, 2:52 PM


Immigrant Jose Luis Rivera Castillo has been ordered by a Federal Judge to return his 5 year old daughter to her mother in Mexico.

A federal judge ordered a 5-year-old Queens girl removed from her father's custody Monday and returned to her mother in Mexico after the couple's border-crossing scheme went awry.

"This is a tragic and heart-rending case," Judge Jack Weinstein said, noting that the decision was based on international law and not who is the better parent.

Weinstein directed the lawyer for the child's father to bring her to Brooklyn Federal Court Friday so a guardian could take her home to Puebla to reunite with her mother. The lawyer, Steven Ross, said he may ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for a stay of the judge's ruling.

Angelica Mota filed suit last year seeking custody of little Elena under the Child Abduction Remedies Act of the Hague Convention.

The child was born in 2006 to Mota and her husband Jose Luis Rivera Castillo who later entered the U.S. illegally and settled in Queens where he works as a custodian at a private school.

The couple hatched a plan for Mota and their daughter to join him in Corona, Queens in 2010 - she handed Elena off to smugglers that he had paid in advance at the border in Nogales, Arizona.

Several days later Mota was nabbed by the feds when she tried to cross with another relative and was deported in August 2010, according to court papers.

Castillo was raising the child with his new girlfriend with whom he recently had a baby boy, and had stopped sending financial support to his wife.

Castillo's lawyer argued that the couple had made a joint decision that Elena should be raised in the U.S. because it would be a better life for her.

But the judge ruled that Mota had proved her case that the child's removal to a new country was conditional upon her mother joining her.

"The permanent residence of the child remains in Mexico where the mother lives and the father can return at any time," Weinstein said, noting that his decision was based on the law and not who is the better parent.

jmarzulli@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...#ixzz1j5Kktzwy

Why aren't we depoting the illegal father? Why isn't he being fired from his job?

Originally Posted by judyweller

why aren't we depoting the illegal father? Why isn't he being fired from his job?

NYC = Sanctuary!