Three Deported Students Return to the U.S.
New America Media- Enlace, News Report, Hiram Soto, Translated by Elena Shore, Posted: Jun 21, 2009

SAN DIEGO -- Emergency humanitarian visas were given to the three underage students who were deported May 20 while waiting to take the trolley to school, in what observers say could set an important precedent for future deportation cases.

In a bizarre local incident, the federal government apparently gave in to pressure from immigrant rights groups who argued the teenagers were arrested and removed from the country improperly.

This week, the three students, 15, 16 and 17 years old, were returned to their families in San Diego after spending nearly a month in Tijuana.

"I’m happy," said 17-year-old Mauricio Villanueva after reconnecting with his family. "I had been away from my mom for one or two days before, but we’d never been separated for this long.”

Villanueva and the other students, who don’t have any family in Tijuana, spent the month living with a local woman who opened her home to them and provided them with meals.

The Border Patrol arrested the minors and 18 others in a joint operation with the Transportation Security Administration, the federal agency in charge of protecting the public transportation system against terrorist attacks.

Border Patrol agent Daryl Reed reiterated that the Border Patrol had acted properly in arresting the youth, and noted that the decision to grant them visas was made in Washington, D.C.

"After analyzing everything, it was determined that it was in the best interest of the young people and their families, and also the United States, for them to return to the country on a conditional basis," he said.

Reintegrating the teenagers does not mean they will be able to stay in the United States permanently. However, their visas give them the opportunity to fight their cases in immigration court.

Immigration attorney Lilia Velasquez, who represents the three minors, said they probably won’t receive permanent residency but they will likely be released, even if only as undocumented immigrants.

Velasquez said there was a precedent with a minor in Texas who was deported and then given a humanitarian visa, but other than that, she said, she hasn’t seen anything like this in her 25-year career.

She said she thought the government changed its mind due to pressure from immigrant rights groups that had several meetings with federal authorities, as well as the new administration.

From now on, the Border Patrol is expected to think twice before stopping minors on their way to school.

"Hopefully this case will deter them from doing this again," said Velasquez.

Kevin Keenan, executive director of the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said the government had made a mistake in removing the students from the country and that this was a correction of its error.

He said the next step was to ask the Border Patrol to agree in writing not to detain and deport minors on their way to school.

"It is not acceptable to have federal immigration authorities in public transportation stations detaining and deporting minors," he said.

Reed, of the Border Patrol, said the agency will continue to work with other public agencies in search of undocumented immigrants in various places, including patrolling public transportation systems.

For now, all was happy at the home of Ana Maria Benitez, mother of Stephanie Jimenez, one of the deported students. While their daughter was in Tijuana, she said the family had some very tense days, and was sad and filled with anguish.

"I am very happy to be back with my daughter," she said. "And I feel very motivated to keep working to fight the deportation of any other student because I don’t want another family go through what we went through."