Who didn't see it coming?
View attachment 123164
The Guatemalan woman arrested in the Arizona desert will be given the choice taking her newborn — a US citizen born Wednesday at Tucson Medical Center — with her when
tucson.com
Border agents posted at Tucson maternity ward to quickly deport migrant mom
A Guatemalan woman who gave birth in Tucson on Wednesday — days after entering Arizona through the desert and getting arrested by border agents — is facing rapid deportation proceedings under Trump's "expedited removal" policy, which could put her and her baby's health and safety at risk, according to an immigration attorney.
But Department of Homeland Security officers, who are posted outside the woman's Tucson Medical Center hospital room, are refusing to let the new mother speak to a lawyer, as she's requested, the Tucson attorney, Luis Campos, told the Arizona Daily Star on Thursday.
After days walking through the Southern Arizona desert, the woman was apprehended by Border Patrol earlier this week and put into detention, until agents transported her to the hospital to give birth on Wednesday, Campos said.
Campos said an advocate who became aware of the woman's situation contacted him Thursday and conveyed that she'd requested to speak to an attorney.
But when Campos attempted to visit her at TMC, DHS officers — who appeared to be with Customs and Border Protection — blocked the entrance to her hospital room, saying he needed a signed G-28 form identifying him as the woman's lawyer before he could see her, Campos told the Star.
Campos had the form with him and just needed the woman's signature, but CBP officers said neither he, nor a hospital official, would be allowed to take the form to her so she could sign, he said.
"She is clearly subject to removal, but she may have viable defenses to assert if given the opportunity," he said. "I’m asking them to put her in deportation proceedings and to release her. They have the discretion to do that, so that she can be with her baby and find accommodations" as her deportation case proceeds.
Soon after his Jan. 20 inauguration President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring an "invasion" at the southern border and “suspending the physical entry” of migrants until he decides the invasion is over. The order also suspended migrants' ability to request asylum protection in the U.S.
The ACLU
sued the administration in February over the asylum restrictions, saying they are illegal and put at risk the safety of vulnerable people fleeing harm, the Associated Press reported. Humanitarians have warned the restrictions will prompt more people to try to evade border agents, instead of surrendering to request asylum, which could lead to more migrant deaths in the borderlands.
CBP spokesman John Mennell confirmed Thursday that the woman at TMC faces expedited removal, a rapid deportation process without the ability to see an immigration judge first.
The woman will be given the choice of whether or not she wants to take her baby with her once she is deported, Mennell said. As a U.S. citizen, the newborn cannot be deported, he said.
"It is the mother's choice whether the child stays with the mother, or remains in the United States," he said.
Asked if the woman could be placed into normal deportation proceedings for humanitarian reasons, Mennell said, “Those determinations are made on a case-by-case basis."
President Donald Trump has vowed to end birthright citizenship in the U.S., which under the 14th Amendment automatically grants citizenship to children born on U.S. soil, regardless of their parents' immigration status.
Three U.S. District Courts have halted Trump's January executive order ending birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children whose parents are in the country unlawfully. But the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on the issue in May, the Associated Press reported.
"Urgent" situation
Campos said the woman could be discharged from the hospital any day, and returned to expedited removal processing, making the situation “urgent." He hopes public attention to the case will pressure DHS to “act in a more humane way.”
Campos said he believes Border Patrol should have taken the woman directly to the hospital after her arrest, instead of detaining her for processing, considering her advanced pregnancy and her time spent exposed to the elements while traveling through the desert.
Even if she ends up not being eligible for release on humanitarian grounds, nor being eligible for an immigration hearing, "she still has the right to a lawyer," Campos said. "Family, and friends of family, have asked me to represent her."
Tucson Medical Center spokesman Tim Bentley said in a Friday email that the hospital would not comment on the situation.
The Star spoke Thursday with a Tennessee-based friend of the woman, who said he met the woman a few years ago while traveling with his parents, who are pastors, as they ministered in Guatemala.
The Star is identifying the friend only by his last name, Gaspar, because he said his parents — who are lawful permanent residents — are still in the process of attaining their U.S. citizenship. Even immigrants with legal status have been targeted by the Trump administration amid its mass-deportation campaign.
Gaspar, who is a U.S. citizen, stayed in touch with the woman over the years through Facebook, and he said they last corresponded a few weeks ago.
Gaspar said if the woman were to be released, pending her deportation proceedings, he and his wife are willing to host her, and her baby, in their home as she waits for her immigration case to proceed. He said his parents raised him to give back to the community, especially because they needed that help themselves after they first immigrated to the U.S. decades ago, from Guatemala.
"A good friend of ours helped out my parents when they came here 30 years ago," he said. "We’re willing to help. We help out a lot of Americans who are homeless, too. We help out anyone in need."
Guatemala is experiencing high levels of violence now, Gaspar said, and that's why his friend left her home country. He has spoken with her parents in Guatemala to tell them their daughter gave birth in Tucson and is okay; her parents said they're also planning to leave their country due to the violence, Gaspar said.
Gaspar said his biggest fear is that his friend will be sent back to unsafe conditions in Guatemala with her newborn.
"Maybe they’d deport both of them back, and they don't have anywhere to go. The violence over there in Guatemala, it's really peaked," he said.
He said he's "really sad" and also angered by DHS officials' refusal to let her speak to a lawyer while in the hospital.
"That makes me feel awful," he said. "Honestly, she has the right to an attorney and they’re taking that right away from her."
Campos said the CBP officers said the woman is in their custody and they're “not allowing any visitors here, even if it were family, friends, if they’re not a necessary hospital employee.”
“The legal issue is, who exercises control at that point?" Campos said. "Because the government says 'we have custody over her'. But she’s in a hospital facility, where the hospital also has a say in custodial matters. It’s an interesting legal question and I don't know how it gets resolved.”