Thread: Woman whose daughter was sent to Mexico sues government

Woman whose daughter was sent to Mexico sues government
June 5, 2008 - 7:07AM
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) - A Texas woman whose American-born daughter was deported to Mexico with the father and not recovered for three years is suing the federal government for $5 million.

Monica Castro, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, accuses the U.S. Border Patrol of refusing to release her daughter to her when the girl's father was arrested by agents in December 2003. Despite proving the child was born in the U.S., officials took the girl from Lubbock to the Texas-Mexico border. Castro did not find and regain custody of her daughter until three years later, according to Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which represents Castro.

"Border Patrol's actions in this case were not only illegal but outrageous. Federal agents had no authority to detain and transport a native-born infant to Mexico," said attorney Susan Watson.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Corpus Christi, who is handling the case, declined to comment. In court documents, the federal government contends the Border Patrol was acting within its discretion to allow a father to take his daughter to Mexico. The government also says it has sovereign immunity from Castro's suit, according to court documents.

A federal court in Corpus Christi dismissed Castro's case in February 2007, a year after the suit was filed. Attorneys for Castro are appealing the ruling to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which heard the case Wednesday.

More U.S. citizens are getting caught up in operations to apprehend illegal immigrants, Kathleen Walker, national president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told the Fort Wroth Star-Telegram.

Another case that led to a lawsuit involves a mentally impaired U.S. citizen who was mistakenly deported last year to Tijuana, Mexico and was missing for almost three months.

"It's outrageous," Walker said. "The freight train of enforcement runs over a lot of people."

In Castro's case, she had called the Border Patrol herself after breaking up with her daughter's father, an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Her common-law husband was abusive and was wanted for questioning in a homicide in Amarillo at the time, Castro told the newspaper.

When authorities arrested the girl's father, Border Patrol Agent Manuel Sanchez said he had told Castro she could get her daughter if she was present during the apprehension. Later the agent acknowledged it was not advisable for safety reasons to have civilians at an arrest scene, according to the agent's sworn deposition.

Castro said her common-law husband had shoved her when she tried to take their daughter after breaking up with him and feared for her safety, so she did not want to be present during the arrest.

Agent Sanchez had assured her she could get her daughter at the lockup in Lubbock, Castro said. But when she went to get her daughter on Dec. 3, 2003, authorities refused to let her in and told her she would have to obtain a custody order.

"They were basically laughing in my face ... It was like I was there for nothing," Castro said. "I came back to Corpus without my baby in my arms."

Court records show agents had the 1-year-old in a holding cell with other detained adult relatives. The child was then put on a bus that day and dropped off with her father at an international bridge. The father settled in the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez, attorneys said.

It wasn't until three years later, when Castro's ex-boyfriend was detained after attempting to enter the country illegally, that Castro got her daughter back.

The man's family in Mexico never told her she had a mother and it took time for the her daughter to adjust to a new culture and the English language, Castro said.






http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articl ... exico.html

Hate to be cold but when you birth babies with an illegal then you are risking the issues of parenthood and different governments and all that. "Common-law husband" has no papers and proof and according to our laws the father has equal rights to the child.......married, un-married, legal, illegal, citizen, not citizen......it's your job to settle those legal matters or I can swear we are going to be seeing a host of child abductions and mistakes because there are no rules anymore. Ohh...he shoved me.....hey there are women who have been beaten to a pulp that still have to find a way to allow the father of the child to see their kid. Mine was in jail and I was told he didn't commit murder so therefore he still had rights and I HAD to find a way to work it out......for the sake of the child. Or face jail. You can't birth a baby with an illegal and then have them deported and think your problems are over.....it's only begun. Just like you can't abduct your child and run and think the issue is over.

We have citizens who have waited longer than 3 years to get their child from a spouse and they never left the country. They can't sue the courts. It's not the governments fault his family didn't tell her about you....that's the games people play with innocent children when they just want the other parent out of the picture. Kind of like what happened when deportation seemed like the easy way to rid yourself of him. Deserved or not. The knife cuts both ways.....and it's often times not fair.

You put yourself in this position......not the government.

Agent Sanchez had assured her she could get her daughter at the lockup in Lubbock, Castro said. But when she went to get her daughter on Dec. 3, 2003, authorities refused to let her in and told her she would have to obtain a custody order.





The agents did nothing wrong because that, in fact, is the law.

It's a common misconception that whichever parent has had physical care of the child after a split, has some kind of legal standing as the custodial parent, or that the mother is automatically entitled to keep the child, but that is just simply not the case. One has to have been awarded legal custody....even temporarily.....in order to prevent the other parent from taking the child. That's why day care centers and schools need that information on file......unless there is something from a court which states otherwise, they cannot prevent a parent from taking their child out of the facility.

I have a friend who found this out the hard way after her soon to be ex husband showed up at her parents' house and tried to take the kids. The police were called and because there was no custody order he was permitted to take them. She finally got them back but it took a court hearing during which she was awarded legal custody.

The woman suing has an additional thing going against her....Mexico's smart ass "dual citizenship" tactic. Because that baby is also a citizen of Mexico, she cannot argue the fact that the authorities allowed a US citizen to be removed from the country unlawfully.

This woman would be considered within the right even under the changes proposed by Tom Tancredo in his anchor baby limitation bill this. Sometimes the good guys mess up.

Oh hell no. They child was in the custody of the legal guardian. She shouldn't have married and had a child with a deportable. This is a child custody case and has nothing to do with immigration. The father, did not have to release the child to the mother, even if he is in custody.

That illegal boyfriend was using the child as a shield from deportation and when he got arrested, she went home with him. Illegals do this all the time.

Another case that led to a lawsuit involves a mentally impaired U.S. citizen who was mistakenly deported last year to Tijuana, Mexico and was missing for almost three months.

Yea and that family sat on their asses at home, after being notified that he was in custody, instead of taking his birth certificut and identification they let him get deported so they could sue. They had him call home so they could pick him up. It backfired when he got lost. This is a scam and they used their mentally ill relative.

Dixie

The man's family in Mexico never told her she had a mother and it took time for the her daughter to adjust to a new culture and the English language, Castro said.

Oh? And how do you suppose this child was born then? It took time for the child to adjust to a new culture and the English language? The child was 4 years old when she was brought back if my calculations are right. I thought this culture adjustment was the excuse they gave when they went back across the border, not when they re-enter the U.S.

refused to let her in and told her she would have to obtain a custody order.

That was the absolute first thing they told me to do. You HAVE to establish legal custody and everyone has to have those papers. They also told me divorce wouldn't be the end of the problem it was just the beginning because he had rights......in Florida even though I was granted full custody, I was forbidden to take her from the state without court approval and permission from him. Now I suppose I could have risked going ahead and doing what I wanted, but I also risked loosing her to foster care and going to jail till things were settled. At that time, they were prone to take the child and put them in foster care and it was sometimes 10 yr's or more before you got them back. That is if they didn't loose them in system before then. I went by the book and bent over backwards to abide by every law and then some to make it work. For her sake, not for mine. I didn't have the money or any social standing to cash in on like some may have......and I didn't want courts to rule every decision for the rest my life by running to court every other week. It ended up working out the best for her.....and that was the purpose. Made my life hell, but it was my stupid choices......not hers, and I paid dearly. It takes alot of strengh and work to do it and it sickens me when I see people use their children as a weapon or a shield for their bad choices.

Originally Posted by Richard

This woman would be considered within the right even under the changes proposed by Tom Tancredo in his anchor baby limitation bill this. Sometimes the good guys mess up.

Yes, I agree absolutely. They deported a citizen, who may have had no legal right to even be in Mexico. (I don't know Mexican citizenship law because I really don't care.)

But 5 million? C'mon - why did it take so long? It isn't like the father was estranged. All he had to do was go to an embassy, and they would have helped take care of this PDQ.

I'll bet he was hoping the mother would join him in Mexico. Heck, I'd stay with my husband.

I am sure there is more to this story then the article states. I have seen this kind of problem happen to legal unmarried citizens. If the father's name was on the birth certificate and there was no legal custody order the police could not legally take the child away from either parent.

If she would have been present when the father was arrested then prehaps one of the officers could have handed her the baby and she could have been on her way. But once the father and child were in the system their hands were tied. A parent cannot legally take a child out of state or to a foreign country to prevent the other parent from visitation.

I do not understand why she did not get an emergency custody order or why she did not stake herself outside of the detention center and follow him to the border. I would have, as I say there has to be more to the story.

I find myself humming "Anchors Away"!