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DALLAS (AP) – A Texas teenager who was deported to Colombia in May after
claiming to be an illegal immigrant was returned to the United States
and remains at the center of an international mystery over how a minor
could be sent to a country where she is not a citizen.
Her family has questioned why U.S. officials didn’t do more to verify
her identity and say she is not fluent in Spanish and had no ties to
Colombia. While many facts of the case involving Jakadrien Lorece Turner
remain unclear, U.S. and Colombian officials have pointed fingers over
who is responsible.
Jakadrien, 15, arrived in Dallas on Friday evening and was reunited
with her family. She was flanked by her mother, grandmother and law
enforcement when she emerged from the international gate at Dallas-Fort
Worth International Airport shortly before 10 p.m.
“She’s happy to be home,” the family’s attorney, Ray Jackson, said,
adding that the family would not be issuing any statements Friday night.
He said the family was “ecstatic” to have Jakadrien back in Texas and
they plan to “do what we can to make sure she gets back to a normal
life.”
Immigration experts say that while cases of mistaken identity are
rare, people can slip through the cracks, especially if they don’t have
legal help or family members working on their behalf. But they say U.S.
immigration authorities had the responsibility to determine if a person
is a citizen.
“Often in these situations they have these group hearings where they
tell everybody you’re going to be deported,” said Jacqueline Stevens, a
political science professor at Northwestern University, who is an expert
on immigration issues. “Everything is really quick, even if you
understand English you wouldn’t understand what is going on. If she were
in that situation as a 14-year-old she would be herded through like
cattle and not have a chance to talk to the judge about her situation.”
Jakadrien’s saga began when the teen ran away more than a year ago.
Jakadrien’s family said she left home in November 2010. Houston police
said the girl was arrested on April 2, 2011, for misdemeanor theft in
that city and claimed to be Tika Lanay Cortez, a Colombian woman born in
1990. It was unclear if she has been living under that name.
Houston police said in a statement that her name was run through a
database to determine if she was wanted by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement but the results were negative. She was then turned over to
the Harris County jail and booked on the theft charge.
The county sheriff’s office said it ran her through the available
databases and did the interviews necessary to establish her identity and
immigration status in the country, with negative results. A sheriff’s
office employee recommended that an immigration detainer be put on her,
and upon her release from jail she was turned over to ICE.
U.S. immigration officials insist they followed procedure and found
nothing to indicate that the girl wasn’t a Colombian woman living
illegally in the country.
An ICE official said the teen claimed to be Cortez throughout the
criminal proceedings in Houston and the ensuing deportation process, in
which an immigration judge ultimately ordered her back to Colombia.
Standard procedure before any deportation is to coordinate with the
other country in order to establish that person is from there, the ICE
official said.
The ICE official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to not being
authorized to discuss additional details of the case, said the teenager
was interviewed by a representative from the Colombian consulate and
that country’s government issued her a travel document to enter
Colombia.
Jakadrien was issued travel documents at the request of U.S.
officials using information they provided, the Colombian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs said. Colombian officials are investigating what kind of
verification was conducted by its Houston consulate to issue the
temporary passport.
The girl was given Colombian citizenship upon arriving in that country, the ICE official said.
According to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the girl was
enrolled in the country’s “Welcome Home” program after she arrived
there. She was given shelter, psychological assistance and a job at a
call center, a statement from the agency said.
“If she looked like an adult, and she told them she was a 21-year-old
Colombian citizen, and she didn’t show up in their databases, this was
inevitable,” said Albert Armendariz, an immigration attorney from El
Paso.
Jakadrien’s family says they have no idea why she ended up in
Colombia. Johnisa Turner said the girl is a U.S. citizen who was born in
Dallas and was not fluent in Spanish. She said neither she nor the
teen’s father had ties to Colombia. Jakadrien’s grandmother, Lorene
Turner, called the deportation a “big mistake somebody made.”
“She looks like a kid, she acts like a kid. How could they think she wasn’t a kid?” Lorene Turner asked on Thursday.
Lorene Turner, a Dallas hairstylist, said she spent a lot of time on the Internet trying to track down Jakadrien.
Ultimately, the girl was found in Bogota by the Dallas Police Department with help from Colombian and U.S. officials.
Dallas Police detective C’mon (pronounced Simone) Wingo, the
detective in charge of the case, said she was contacted in August by the
girl’s grandmother, who said Jakadrien had posted “kind of disturbing”
messages on a Facebook account where she goes by yet another name.
Wingo said the girl was located in early November through her use of a
computer to log into Facebook. Relatives were then put into contact
with the U.S. embassy in Bogota to provide pictures and documents to
prove Jakadrien’s identity.
Colombian officials said when the government discovered she was a
U.S. citizen and a minor, it put her under the care of a welfare
program.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the case was brought to the State Department’s attention in mid-December.
“We didn’t have any involvement at all in this case until it came to
light that there may be a problem with an American minor in Colombia,
and that – and then we became involved both with Colombian authorities
and with folks in Dallas,” Nuland said.
Stephen Yale-Loehr, who teaches immigration law at Cornell Law
School, said hundreds of U.S. citizens are wrongfully detained or
deported each year.
“There are a variety of legitimate reasons why somebody might not
appear to be a U.S. citizen at first glance.” he said. “It’s the duty of
the U.S. federal immigration agency to make sure that we do not detain
and deport U.S. citizens erroneously. And this, unfortunately happened
in this case.”
Showing posts with label blackamerican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blackamerican. Show all posts
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Girl Wrongfully Deported To Colombia Could Return Home Soon
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EL PASO, Texas— The grandmother of a 15-year-old Dallas girl who was deported to Colombia after giving immigration officials a fake name is questioning why U.S. officials didn’t do more to verify her identify.
U.S. immigration officials said they’re investigating the circumstances of the case involving Jakadrien Lorece Turner. But they insist they followed procedure and found nothing to indicate that the girl wasn’t — as she claimed — a woman from Colombia illegally living in the U.S.
The girl, who ran away from home more than a year ago, was recently found in Bogota, Colombia, by the Dallas Police Department with help from Colombian and U.S. officials.
The Colombian government said late Thursday that the U.S. Embassy had submitted the necessary documents for Jakadrien to return to the U.S, though it was unclear exactly when she might be back.
Her grandmother, Dallas hairstylist Lorene Turner, said she’s hoping Jakadrien will soon be home.
U.S. immigration officials deferred questions to the State Department about when the teen might return. The State Department said it was aware of the case but declined to comment further, citing privacy reasons.
According to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the girl was enrolled in the country’s “Welcome Home” program after she arrived there. She was given shelter, psychological assistance and a job at a call center, a statement from the agency said. When the Colombian government discovered she was a U.S. citizen, it put her under the care of a welfare program, the statement said.
Her grandmother called the deportation a “big mistake somebody made” and said U.S. officials need to do better.
“She looks like a kid, she acts like a kid. How could they think she wasn’t a kid?” Lorene Turner asked on Thursday.
Jakadrien’s family said she left home in November 2010. Houston police said the girl was arrested on April 2, 2011, for misdemeanor theft in that city and claimed to be Tika Lanay Cortez, a Colombian woman born in 1990.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told The Associated Press on Thursday that the teen claimed to be Cortez throughout the criminal proceedings in Houston and the ensuing deportation process in which an immigration judge ultimately ordered her back to Colombia.
The ICE official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to not being authorized to discuss additional details of the case, said the teenager was interviewed by a representative from the Colombian consulate and that country’s government issued her a travel document to enter Colombia. The ICE official said standard procedure before any deportation is to coordinate with the other country in order to establish that person is from there.
The girl was given Colombian citizenship upon arriving there, the ICE official said.
The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Jakadrien was issued travel documents at the request of the U.S. National Security Agency and with information submitted by U.S. officials. Colombian officials are investigating what kind of verification was conducted by its Houston consulate to issue the temporary passport.
It was not clear if the teen might be charged upon her return for falsifying her identity in a criminal process.
Dallas Police detective C’mon (pronounced Simone) Wingo, the detective in charge of the case, explained that in August she was contacted by the girl’s grandmother, who said Jakadrien had posted “kind of disturbing” messages on a Facebook account where she goes by yet another name.
Wingo said the girl was located in early November through her use of a computer to log into Facebook. Relatives were then put into contact with the U.S. Embassy in Bogota to provide pictures and documents to prove Jakadrien’s identity.
Lorene Turner said she has spent a lot of time tracking down Jakadrien, whose family nickname is Kay-Kay.
“In between customers I’d get on the computer looking for Kay-Kay, I was obsessed,” she said.
She and the teen’s mother, Johnisa Turner, said they did not contact Jakadrien through Facebook and plead for her to come home because they were afraid.
“I didn’t want to scare her or get her in trouble with those who had her,” Lorene Turner said, adding that she feared the girl might have been caught up in human trafficking. “I don’t know. I’m just going crazy. She didn’t have any reason to leave. She lived in a nice home (with her mother and stepfather). We were very close. I don’t know why she left.”
Johnisa Turner was reluctant to go into any details about the deportation, saying she didn’t know anything. She referred calls to her attorney, Ray Jackson, but he could not be immediately reached.
“I was devastated,” she said. “When your child doesn’t come home from school, of course you go to the worst end of the spectrum. I was just hoping that she was alive and well.”
Johnisa Turner said her daughter, a freshman at a new Dallas high school, was experimenting with different hairstyles and clothes but “wasn’t a problem kid.” She said the teen was a good student but when her grades began to slip, her parents took away some of her privileges, including closing down her Facebook account and limiting the time she could listen to music.
Johnisa Turner said she was relieved that Jakadrien has been found and wants her back in Dallas.
“Whatever it is, the past is in the past. I want her home so we can move from this day forward.”
EL PASO, Texas— The grandmother of a 15-year-old Dallas girl who was deported to Colombia after giving immigration officials a fake name is questioning why U.S. officials didn’t do more to verify her identify.
U.S. immigration officials said they’re investigating the circumstances of the case involving Jakadrien Lorece Turner. But they insist they followed procedure and found nothing to indicate that the girl wasn’t — as she claimed — a woman from Colombia illegally living in the U.S.
The girl, who ran away from home more than a year ago, was recently found in Bogota, Colombia, by the Dallas Police Department with help from Colombian and U.S. officials.
The Colombian government said late Thursday that the U.S. Embassy had submitted the necessary documents for Jakadrien to return to the U.S, though it was unclear exactly when she might be back.
Her grandmother, Dallas hairstylist Lorene Turner, said she’s hoping Jakadrien will soon be home.
U.S. immigration officials deferred questions to the State Department about when the teen might return. The State Department said it was aware of the case but declined to comment further, citing privacy reasons.
According to the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the girl was enrolled in the country’s “Welcome Home” program after she arrived there. She was given shelter, psychological assistance and a job at a call center, a statement from the agency said. When the Colombian government discovered she was a U.S. citizen, it put her under the care of a welfare program, the statement said.
Her grandmother called the deportation a “big mistake somebody made” and said U.S. officials need to do better.
“She looks like a kid, she acts like a kid. How could they think she wasn’t a kid?” Lorene Turner asked on Thursday.
Jakadrien’s family said she left home in November 2010. Houston police said the girl was arrested on April 2, 2011, for misdemeanor theft in that city and claimed to be Tika Lanay Cortez, a Colombian woman born in 1990.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official told The Associated Press on Thursday that the teen claimed to be Cortez throughout the criminal proceedings in Houston and the ensuing deportation process in which an immigration judge ultimately ordered her back to Colombia.
The ICE official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to not being authorized to discuss additional details of the case, said the teenager was interviewed by a representative from the Colombian consulate and that country’s government issued her a travel document to enter Colombia. The ICE official said standard procedure before any deportation is to coordinate with the other country in order to establish that person is from there.
The girl was given Colombian citizenship upon arriving there, the ICE official said.
The Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Jakadrien was issued travel documents at the request of the U.S. National Security Agency and with information submitted by U.S. officials. Colombian officials are investigating what kind of verification was conducted by its Houston consulate to issue the temporary passport.
It was not clear if the teen might be charged upon her return for falsifying her identity in a criminal process.
Dallas Police detective C’mon (pronounced Simone) Wingo, the detective in charge of the case, explained that in August she was contacted by the girl’s grandmother, who said Jakadrien had posted “kind of disturbing” messages on a Facebook account where she goes by yet another name.
Wingo said the girl was located in early November through her use of a computer to log into Facebook. Relatives were then put into contact with the U.S. Embassy in Bogota to provide pictures and documents to prove Jakadrien’s identity.
Lorene Turner said she has spent a lot of time tracking down Jakadrien, whose family nickname is Kay-Kay.
“In between customers I’d get on the computer looking for Kay-Kay, I was obsessed,” she said.
She and the teen’s mother, Johnisa Turner, said they did not contact Jakadrien through Facebook and plead for her to come home because they were afraid.
“I didn’t want to scare her or get her in trouble with those who had her,” Lorene Turner said, adding that she feared the girl might have been caught up in human trafficking. “I don’t know. I’m just going crazy. She didn’t have any reason to leave. She lived in a nice home (with her mother and stepfather). We were very close. I don’t know why she left.”
Johnisa Turner was reluctant to go into any details about the deportation, saying she didn’t know anything. She referred calls to her attorney, Ray Jackson, but he could not be immediately reached.
“I was devastated,” she said. “When your child doesn’t come home from school, of course you go to the worst end of the spectrum. I was just hoping that she was alive and well.”
Johnisa Turner said her daughter, a freshman at a new Dallas high school, was experimenting with different hairstyles and clothes but “wasn’t a problem kid.” She said the teen was a good student but when her grades began to slip, her parents took away some of her privileges, including closing down her Facebook account and limiting the time she could listen to music.
Johnisa Turner said she was relieved that Jakadrien has been found and wants her back in Dallas.
“Whatever it is, the past is in the past. I want her home so we can move from this day forward.”
Thursday, January 5, 2012
African-American teen missing since 2010 mistakenly deported to Colombia
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An African-American teen from Dallas who has been missing since 2010 was found to have been wrongfully deported to Colombia, area outlet News 8 reports. Jakadrien Turner was mistakenly deported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) in April of 2011 after being arrested as a teen runaway.
The troubled youth had fled her family at the age of 14 under duress caused by the death of her grandfather and her parents' divorce. Having made her way to Houston, Jakadrien was brought into police custody for theft, where she gave a fake name. That name coincidentally belonged to a Colombian illegal immigrant who had warrants out for her arrest.
Jakadrien's grandmother, Lorene Turner, had been looking for her granddaughter ever since she left the family fold, seemingly having vanished into thin air. Staying up many late nights for months searching on Facebook, Turner credits messages on the social network for aiding her discovery of her granddaughter's location. She also received help from Dallas police.
Turner alerted U.S. authorities after discovering that Jakadrien had been working as a cleaner in Colombia. The Colombian government had given her a work card upon her arrival there.
After being informed by American authorities, Colombian officials took Jakadrien into custody where she has been waiting for a month in detention. It has also been discovered that the African-American teen is pregnant.
Jakadrien was deported to Colombia at the age of 15 by ICE after being fingerprinted, which should have clarified the girl's true identity. How she, as an African-American speaking no Spanish, was able to be deported failing the confirmation of her foreign national status remains a matter for further ICE investigation.
The Colombian government has refused to release the girl to her family in the United States.
In a statement regarding this case of mistaken identity, ICE Director of Public Affairs Brian Hale said:
Lorene Turner remains hopeful that Jakadrien's case will soon be resolved, as she told News 8, "I feel like she will come home. I just need help. And I need prayer."
An African-American teen from Dallas who has been missing since 2010 was found to have been wrongfully deported to Colombia, area outlet News 8 reports. Jakadrien Turner was mistakenly deported by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) in April of 2011 after being arrested as a teen runaway.
The troubled youth had fled her family at the age of 14 under duress caused by the death of her grandfather and her parents' divorce. Having made her way to Houston, Jakadrien was brought into police custody for theft, where she gave a fake name. That name coincidentally belonged to a Colombian illegal immigrant who had warrants out for her arrest.
Jakadrien's grandmother, Lorene Turner, had been looking for her granddaughter ever since she left the family fold, seemingly having vanished into thin air. Staying up many late nights for months searching on Facebook, Turner credits messages on the social network for aiding her discovery of her granddaughter's location. She also received help from Dallas police.
Turner alerted U.S. authorities after discovering that Jakadrien had been working as a cleaner in Colombia. The Colombian government had given her a work card upon her arrival there.
After being informed by American authorities, Colombian officials took Jakadrien into custody where she has been waiting for a month in detention. It has also been discovered that the African-American teen is pregnant.
Jakadrien was deported to Colombia at the age of 15 by ICE after being fingerprinted, which should have clarified the girl's true identity. How she, as an African-American speaking no Spanish, was able to be deported failing the confirmation of her foreign national status remains a matter for further ICE investigation.
The Colombian government has refused to release the girl to her family in the United States.
In a statement regarding this case of mistaken identity, ICE Director of Public Affairs Brian Hale said:
ICE takes these allegations very seriously. At the direction of [the Department of Homeland Security], ICE is fully and immediately investigating this matter in order to expeditiously determine the facts of this case.ICE also noted that lying by foreign nationals to prevent deportation has been documented in some cases. For the moment, the agency is not answering further questions regarding Jakadrien's deportation.
Lorene Turner remains hopeful that Jakadrien's case will soon be resolved, as she told News 8, "I feel like she will come home. I just need help. And I need prayer."
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