Thread: {SOB} Separated by their citizenship

Separated by their citizenship
U.S.-born twin girls struggle to move on with their lives in Fresno, after their mother was deported to Mexico and their father left to join her.
By Vanessa Colón / The Fresno Bee
04/20/07 04:59:18

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Fabiola and Cristina Duarte were B students at Fresno's McLane High School, twins with big dreams of going to college.

Cristina hoped to become an architect. Fabiola wanted to become a nurse.

But three months ago, their mother was deported to Mexico. A month later, their father left the stucco home the family owns in Fresno to join his wife in Michoacán.

Fabiola and Cristina, each 16, were left with a decision facing many U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants: stay in the U.S. -- the only home they've known -- or follow their parents to a land whose language and values are foreign.

"We love to go to Taco Bell. We love Chinese food. We don't know if there's that over there," Cristina said. "There's nothing there."

Nationwide, federal immigration sweeps are dividing families and stirring unease in some communities whose economies depend on immigrant labor.

Mendota's City Council recently condemned immigration sweeps, in part because parents were being separated from their children.

Federal officials say they have no choice but to enforce immigration laws. Advocates of tougher border enforcement say the children are paying for the parents' decisions. In many cases, those children are U.S. citizens.

About 2.5 million undocumented immigrants lived in California in 2004, representing almost 24% of the nation's illegal immigrant population, according to the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C. About 61% of the state's undocumented families had children who were all U.S. citizens, the institute says.

The Duarte parents moved to the Valley 19 years ago, bought a house in Fresno and settled down, the twins said. Their father worked in construction and their mother was a homemaker, raising five children.

At 5:30 a.m. one morning last May, though, federal immigration officers came to their home looking to enforce a deportation order against the twins' father. He wasn't there, but the officers took their mom, Amada Duarte, who also was an undocumented immigrant, the sisters said.

"I couldn't believe this was actually happening to us," Cristina said. "Sometimes I feel angry. Why would people come into homes and take families away? Why would they want to do that?"

The Duarte family is circumspect about some aspects of their story. The twins know their father had a pending deportation order, but don't know why and declined to identify him. Their aunt, who is watching over the children, declined to discuss the family's circumstances.

Over the following months, the daughters repeatedly visited their mother as she was moved among detention centers and they watched as her case moved through the immigration court in San Francisco. When their mother was finally deported earlier this year, the sisters met up with her in Tijuana once she got off the immigration bus.

About two months ago, their father left for Michoacán, Mexico, to reunite with their mother and their 4-year-old brother, the sisters said. While they were saddened that their father had left them, they were most upset by the loss of their mother, with whom they were closest.

The twins live in the family's Fresno home with their 18-year-old brother, Luis Duarte, 13-year-old sister, Alejandra Duarte, and an aunt, who moved in to watch over them when their father left.

They talk by phone with their mother twice a week, gleaning news and cooking tips and trying to stay connected. But the phone calls don't adequately compensate for missing her voice in the morning, prodding them to hurry up and get ready for school.

Friends say they've noticed how the twins have been affected by the loss of their parents.

Yesenia Bermudez, a 17-year-old McLane High School student, said she used to hang out with the twins, but the deportation of their mother strained their friendship.

"They would not say anything. They wouldn't talk to me no more. They started to drift away," Yesenia said.

The sweep that netted Amada Duarte is part of "Operation Return to Sender," a nationwide effort to reduce illegal immigration. The operation targets people with deportation orders issued by a judge, but agents can pick up other undocumented immigrants they come in contact with, federal officials say.

Some of the people arrested are criminals, but many simply didn't obey deportation orders after entering the country illegally or overstaying their visas.

Even if the parents are deported, the children retain their U.S. citizenship and can prove it with a birth certificate or U.S. passport, said Virginia Kice, an immigration agency spokeswoman.

"In most cases, if the children are younger, they will return to the parents' native country," Kice said.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, said it's unfortunate that immigration sweeps separate U.S.-born children from their parents, but the responsibility falls on the parents. The center favors curbs on illegal immigration.

Krikorian said immigration sweeps are necessary, but improved planning could make them less chaotic for children.

Camille Cook, an immigration attorney in Fresno, said parents in this country illegally have a difficult time making the case that they should stay here to take care of their U.S.-born children. Immigrants must prove deportation would pose an "extreme and exceptionally unusual hardship" to a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident, she said.

"Family separation is not unusual hardship. ... A U.S.-citizen kid has to have some terrible medical condition. The worse, the better," Cook said.

For the Duarte sisters, the loss of their mother has disrupted their schooling as well as their home lives.

Before their mother's detention, Cristina said, she had a 3.6 grade-point average, and Fabiola had a 3.0 grade-point average. After their mother's arrest, they started skipping school, sometimes to visit their mother, other times because they felt too depressed to go to school. Their grades turned to D's and F's.

The twins said the separation from their parents has been a distraction, especially when doing homework. "You can't concentrate," Fabiola said.

In January, the sisters dropped out of the Center for Advanced Research and Technology in Clovis, where they took classes while attending McLane High School.

Now, they are enrolled at Fresno's Crescent View Charter High School, which requires them to attend on Tuesdays but allows them to do most of their studying at home.

School officials also declined to discuss the twins' situation except to confirm that they've left McLane High for a charter school that allows them to do much of their class work at home.

The twins want to finish high school, then move to La Piedad, Michoacán, where their parents live. But for them, Mexico is an unfamiliar country and their command of Spanish is not as sure as their command of English. They speak with their peers in English and watch television in English.

The twins worry about adjusting to a new country. They prefer having the family together, but they feel too American to fit comfortably in their parents' land.
The reporter can be reached at vcolon@fresnobee.com or (559)441-6313.
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/42939.html

May God forgive me....

Cry me a river folks, this is what the anchor baby system does. I'll shed my tears for the innocent Americans that have been murdered by illegals. I'll shed tears for our Country that is being vandalized, raped, and ruined by illegals.

So, illegals, cry me a river ok, then take a slow boat to china.

I do not see a problem with their moving to Mexico. Sounds good to me. I do not understand why they would not want to go. They can go to school in Mexico. Many Americans go to school in Mexico and many move to Mexico.

Mexico University Directory

List of Mexican universities, colleges, & educational resources by state. Language schools and to other resources dog be found in the Mexico Education Directory.

Nationwide

Technological institute and of Superior Studies of Monterrey (ITESM), 27 campuses throughout Mexico.

Aguascalientes

Independent university of Aguascalientes

Baja California

Cetys University

The School of the North Border

Technological institute of Tijuana

Independent university of Baja California

South Baja California

Independent university of South Baja California

Logwood

Independent university of Logwood

Chihuahua

Technological institute of Juárez City

Independent university of Chihuahua

Independent university of Juárez City

Coahuila

Technological institute of Forecastle

It sights on


University of Sights on

Guanajuato

University De Guanajuato

Jalisco
University of Guadalajara

Technological Intituto of Superior Studies of the West

Independent university of Guadalajara

Mexico City - Federal District

The School of Mexico

National Polytechnical institute,

United States International University - Mexico City

Anáhuac university of the South

Metropolitan Independent university

Michoacan

The School of Michoacán

Michoacana university

Nayarit

Independent university of Nayarit

Nuevo Leo'n

University of Monterrey

Independent university again Leon

Regiomontana university

Oaxaca


University of the SEA

Puebla

University of Sierra

University of the Americas-Puebla

Independent Popular university of the State of Puebla

Queretaro


Independent university of Queretaro

Quintana Roo

Partenon University of Cozumel

University of Quintana Roo

Sonora

Technological institute of Walnuts

University of Sonora

Tabasco

Independent Juárez university of Tabasco

Tamaulipas

University of the Northeast

Veracruz

Institute of Ecology, A.C.

Veracruzana university

Yucatan

Technological institute of Mérida

Independent university of Yucatan

Let Colleges Compete for you
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http://www.a2zcolleges.com/language/spanish/mexico.htm

peladac wrote:

Cry me a river folks, this is what the anchor baby system does.

Yeah, with the help of a liberal media campaign designed to sway American hearts.