chilanga
10-23-2007, 02:07 PM
What do you think of this?
Family fights deportation of sick child's mother
Samantha is 4 years old and has more medical problems than anyone should have in a lifetime.
A genetic disorder called Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome causes parts of her body to grow abnormally. She also has chronic lung disease. And she has hepablastoma, a rare form of liver cancer.
Doctors say Samantha will live another two years, at most.
And Samantha's mother wants badly to be with her daughter for those two years. But Cecilia Sanchez-Zurita was taken away from her family earlier this month and is scheduled to be deported Wednesday.
The family wants that deportation delayed.
"Our main concern is that we want her to be with Samantha the last two years of (Samantha's) life," said Maribel Ponce, Samantha's great aunt.
It's a complicated story. Samantha is a U.S. citizen. So are the other four children in the family; all of them were born in this country.
But immigration authorities say Sanchez-Zurita came here without permission.
"She entered the country, repeatedly, illegally," said Tim Counts, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Counts said Sanchez-Zurita was deported once before and was caught trying to come back into the country twice before she re-entered on her third try.
"Someone in her situation is what we call a 'mandatory detainee,' " Counts said. "That is, the law doesn't give us any option."
The family says Samantha's father has to work all day to support her and her siblings, and there's a risk Samantha will go into foster care if mom goes away.
"Even if they want to monitor (the mother), she would be willing to do that," Ponce said. "She just wants to be with her daughter the last days of her life."
Immigration officers call it a "very sad situation."
"But it's a situation the family have placed themselves in," Counts said.
And no matter how sad the situation may be, there are no plans to delay the deportation.
In some cases, deportations can be delayed for humanitarian reasons. In this case, immigration officials say the family has options, even though the family says it does not.
Those options would be: Let the father take care of Samantha, or let the mother take Samantha back to Mexico.
The family's lawyer, Selena Britzius, said Samantha most likely would not have access to the medical care she needs in Mexico.
Family fights deportation of sick child's mother
Samantha is 4 years old and has more medical problems than anyone should have in a lifetime.
A genetic disorder called Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome causes parts of her body to grow abnormally. She also has chronic lung disease. And she has hepablastoma, a rare form of liver cancer.
Doctors say Samantha will live another two years, at most.
And Samantha's mother wants badly to be with her daughter for those two years. But Cecilia Sanchez-Zurita was taken away from her family earlier this month and is scheduled to be deported Wednesday.
The family wants that deportation delayed.
"Our main concern is that we want her to be with Samantha the last two years of (Samantha's) life," said Maribel Ponce, Samantha's great aunt.
It's a complicated story. Samantha is a U.S. citizen. So are the other four children in the family; all of them were born in this country.
But immigration authorities say Sanchez-Zurita came here without permission.
"She entered the country, repeatedly, illegally," said Tim Counts, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Counts said Sanchez-Zurita was deported once before and was caught trying to come back into the country twice before she re-entered on her third try.
"Someone in her situation is what we call a 'mandatory detainee,' " Counts said. "That is, the law doesn't give us any option."
The family says Samantha's father has to work all day to support her and her siblings, and there's a risk Samantha will go into foster care if mom goes away.
"Even if they want to monitor (the mother), she would be willing to do that," Ponce said. "She just wants to be with her daughter the last days of her life."
Immigration officers call it a "very sad situation."
"But it's a situation the family have placed themselves in," Counts said.
And no matter how sad the situation may be, there are no plans to delay the deportation.
In some cases, deportations can be delayed for humanitarian reasons. In this case, immigration officials say the family has options, even though the family says it does not.
Those options would be: Let the father take care of Samantha, or let the mother take Samantha back to Mexico.
The family's lawyer, Selena Britzius, said Samantha most likely would not have access to the medical care she needs in Mexico.