[migrawatch-public] Kids of illegal immigrants are forced to choose when parents deported

The Sacramento Bee, April 4, 2007

Kids of illegal immigrants forced to choose when parents deported
By JULIANA BARBASSA - Associated Press Writer
Published 5:17 pm PDT Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Twelve-year-old Adrian Ramirez huddled with his two sisters on a bench
Tuesday, trying to find words to talk about their mother's deportation
to Mexico, scheduled for the end of the week.

As immigration officials step up efforts to seize illegal immigrants,
the story that these children are struggling to tell is increasingly
familiar. Many of the more than 18,000 men and women who have been
deported under Operation Return to Sender since June were raising
families - among them, children born in the United States.

"I want my family to be together," said Adrian, wiping away tears as
Yadira, 10, and Adriana, 6, stared at their shoes. "I want them to stop
these laws. I don't know what life would be like in Mexico. My home is
in Palo Alto."

Their father, Pedro Ramirez, who worked at Albertson's supermarket, was
deported in February. Their mother, Isabel Aguirre, was arrested and
ordered deported at the same time, but given a monitoring ankle bracelet
and some time to make arrangements for the children and to purchase a
ticket home.

In cases like this, the children - all American citizens - can stay in
the United States with friends or relatives, or move with their parents
to their country of origin.

Immigration officials defended their actions. They said the parents had
evaded deportation orders and notices to appear since 1997, ignoring the
law until they were seized at their home.

"We've been working with these people for years," said U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori Haley. "Now it's up to the
parents what they want to do. They can take the children with them, or
leave them with relatives or people they can entrust them to."

But the predicament is tearing many families apart, said clergy and
immigrant advocates familiar with such cases.

"Is it really a choice? Staying in foster care, or leaving with their
parents?" asked Samina F. Sundas, the founder of American Muslim Voice
who learned of the family's situation and is trying to help.

For the youngest Ramirez children, the choice was clear: they want to be
with their parents. But they said they're sad about leaving their
friends, and worried about joining a school in Mexico and having to
write in Spanish, which they never learned.

Their 15-year-old brother, Pedro, a sophomore at Gunn High School,
struggled with the decision, trying to keep up with school but breaking
into tears at times, said his math teacher, Chris Schulz, who talked to
him throughout the process.

"He wants to stay, he has a life, aspirations here," Schulz said. "But
he's decided to go, to support his mother and his family."

A group of nearly two dozen clergy from across the country issued a
joint statement Tuesday calling for an end to immigration sweeps and
protesting the way they're splitting up families.

The religious leaders came from communities such as New Bedford, Mass.,
Greeley, Colo., and Richmond, Calif., all heavily impacted by Operation
Return to Sender.

A raid at a small leather factory in New Bedford resulted in the arrest
of 361 workers who were here illegally - among them the wife of Lilo
Mancia, who has been detained since March 6.

Neither Mancia nor his boys, ages 2 and 5, have been able to see her
since. The younger child was born in the United States.

The children miss their mother, who is awaiting immigration hearings
that will determine when she'll have to return to Honduras, Mancia said
in Spanish.

"I'm illegal, I can't ask. It's sad," he said "They call her, 'mom,
mom,' especially at night."

Local priests who are helping the families, such as Father Richard
Wilson of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in New Bedford, signed on to the
religious leaders' statement against such raids.

"God calls on us to protect the weak, especially children," Wilson said
in a statement. "Instead we are ripping apart the fabric of the
community and leaving children behind."

Religious leaders in California familiar with the Ramirez family's
plight agreed.

"No matter how we feel about immigration reform, leaving children
abandoned and violating a person's constitutional rights are wrong,"
said Rev. Anna B. Lange-Soto of El Buen Pastor Episcopal Church in
Redwood City, who went with Isabel Aguirre to see immigration officials
and attorneys on Tuesday.

Aguirre had to present tickets to immigration authorities showing she
would leave the country by Friday. If attorneys aren't able to find a
way for her to stay, she will fly to Michoacan, Mexico, with her
children. Because the couple was here illegally, they wouldn't be able
to return for 10 years.

The children tried to imagine life in Mexico.

"I don't know what that will be like," Yadira said quietly. "I don't
think I remember anything from there."

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