Family Fight, Border Patrol Raid, Baby Deported

[alp227]

A few days before her daughter Rosa’s first birthday, Monica Castro and the girl’s father had a violent argument in the trailer they all shared near Lubbock, Tex. Ms. Castro fled, leaving her daughter behind.

Ms. Castro, a fourth-generation American citizen, went to the local Border Patrol station. She said she would give the agents there information about the girl’s father, a Mexican in the country illegally, in exchange for help recovering her daughter.

Ms. Castro lived up to her side of the deal. But the federal government ended up deporting little Rosa, an American citizen, along with her father, Omar Gallardo. Ms. Castro would not see her daughter again for three years.

On the morning of Dec. 3, 2003, agents raided the trailer and seized Mr. Gallardo, who was wanted for questioning as a witness to a murder. They also took Rosa. Then they told Ms. Castro she had until that afternoon to get a court order if she wanted to keep her daughter.

A frantic lawyer rushed to court, and she called to plead for more time. But there was no court order yet when the government van arrived around 3 p.m., and agents hustled father and daughter into it for the long ride to the border.

Ms. Castro later sued the government, saying the agents had no legal authority to detain, much less deport, her daughter. Nor should Border Patrol agents, she said, take the place of family-court judges in making custody decisions.

The last court to rule in the case, the full United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, rejected Ms. Castro’s arguments, over the dissents of three judges.

The brief unsigned majority decision, echoing that of the trial judge, said the appeals court did not “condone the Border Patrol’s actions or the choices it made.” But, the decision went on, Ms. Castro could not sue the government because the agents had been entitled to use their discretion in the matter.

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/us/21bar.html

Wow. Detaining a CITIZEN child for no good reason other than the kid's father being an illegal immigrant and possible murder witness? So much for "family values".

A similar story of immigration law breaking up families appeared in my local paper.

[eyeofdelphi]

1. WTF?

they can use their "discretion" all they want. i still don't see how it led them to deport a US citizen under the age of 18 when they knew exactly where her mother was. ugh. i can't imagine what i'd do if that had been my kid, but i'd probably be in jail. you just can't mess with people's kids like that.
this is also another example of why immigrants do not want to go to authorities for any reason whatsoever. because they know they can't be trusted.