Deported man may be Houston-born citizen
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...n/7077166.html
Border Patrol doubted his papers because he speaks very little English
By SUSAN CARROLL
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
June 23, 2010, 9:33PM
Immigration officials are reviewing whether a 19-year-old man deported last week from South Texas is actually a U.S. citizen born in Houston.
Luis Alberto Delgado said he and his older brother were stopped last Thursday by a Jim Wells County Sheriff captain, who called the U.S. Border Patrol.
Despite carrying a birth certificate showing he was born at Houston's Ben Taub Hospital, a state of Texas ID card and a Social Security card, Delgado said he was taken into Border Patrol custody, questioned for eight hours and pressured into signing paperwork that cleared the way for his removal to Mexico.
Delgado, who returned to Houston three years ago after spending much of his childhood in Mexico, said immigration officials were su ious because he spoke very little English. He said they kept saying, "No, these papers aren't yours."
"What they did to me was discrimination," Delgado said in a telephone interview from Reynosa. "I don't understand why they did this."
"I am an American citizen," he said.
A U.S. Border Patrol spokesman said that officials do not comment on individual cases. A spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, Chris Van Deusen, confirmed that the state has a birth certificate on file matching the information on one provided to authorities by Delgado. The Houston Chronicle reviewed a certified copy of the birth certificate.
U.S. immigration officials have faced scrutiny in recent years over allegations that they have deported U.S. citizens, including a high-profile case of a mentally disabled Los Angeles man who was lost for months in Mexico in 2007. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said some cases in the past have been "appalling," but she was encouraged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary John Morton has taken steps to help revise guidelines to prevent such situations.
Isaias Torres, a Houston immigration attorney who took Delgado's case pro bono, said he contacted immigration officials Monday and said they initially were responsive to concerns that Delgado is a citizen but have not taken steps to return him to the U.S.
"I hope they will move on this quickly," he said. "We want him back here."
Stopped by a sheriff
Delgado and his brother, Eduardo Luis Pompa, dropped their niece off in Falfurrias last Thursday afternoon and were about 5 miles outside of Alice when they were stopped by a county sheriff.
Capt. Joe R. Martinez said he pulled Pompa over because the passenger, Delgado, was not wearing a seat belt. Martinez said he asked Pompa for a driver's license, but he did not have one. He also did not speak English, Martinez said.
Martinez said he asked the Border Patrol for help to identify the brothers.
Martinez said he booked Pompa into the county jail for driving without a license, and the Border Patrol took Delgado into immigration custody. Martinez said Pompa was released from jail after posting bail after jailers were told by federal officials that he is a U.S. citizen.
In the meantime, Delgado was at a South Texas Border Patrol station being questioned by immigration agents about his papers.
He said he was detained from 4 p.m. to midnight and pressured to sign paperwork that resulted in his being sent to Matamoros.
"The official that was holding me told me I had to sign them … or I would have to stay there," Delgado said.
"I thought if I signed them, they'd let me go free, and I could return to Houston," he said.
Stranded in Reynosa
Delgado said he never was expressly told by the agent that he would be released from custody in the U.S. if he signed the papers, but he believed that to be true.
Torres said Delgado's case may have been complicated for the Border Patrol because Delgado's family used a fake Mexican birth certificate to enroll him in school in Mexico.
He said school officials in Mexico historically give parents of U.S. children a hard time enrolling them in school without a Mexican birth certificate and look the other way if it's fraudulent.
Still, Torres questioned why Delgado was allowed to pass through the port of entry in Laredo three years ago without incident and why immigration officials didn't take more time to verify all of his do ents. He said Delgado simply didn't know any better than to sign the immigration paperwork last week, Torres said.
"He's just a teenager," Torres said.
When Delgado tried to come back to the U.S. through the port of entry, he said he was told he could face up to 20 years in prison for entering the country after being deported.
Now, Delgado said, he is stranded in Reynosa, trying to understand how he ended up barred from the U.S.
legal citizens would never be bothered under AZ law....
He did have all of his papers..but his english was bad so he was deported..
It's called abuse of power. What the laws are don't matter when you deal with racist or corrupt officials.Deported man may be Houston-born citizen
legal citizens would never be bothered under AZ law....
He did have all of his papers..but his english was bad so he was deported..
This is not the result of the AZ law. You're just a lair with your le.
Ever see Born in East LA?
So you know for a fact that not one police officer will abuse his power in AZ? What about the corrupt officials in AZ?
This is exactly what is going to happen AZ and you know that..
Are you saying Texas already has the law Arizona just passed?
I'd ignore the question also if I were you. Are you telling everyone on this board that are no corrupt officials in AZ that would abuse their power when enforcing the law?
Yes or No.
That's the poster boy of logical fallacies, GGA. To purport that the AZ law is the cause is disenginuous as all . To make that viewpoint work, you'll need to prove this wasn't happening before the law. Newsflash. It was.
Of course not. I'm sure there are corrupt law enforcement. My point is, you offer an example in Texas, which DOES NOT have the AZ law deporting a citizen. The abuse can occur without the new law, and you are trying to blame the new law...
Seems a bit lame to me.
their are corrupt cops in every state
they abuse their powers all the time
so since a cop might abuse the power people should not pass any laws?
so let me get this straight.....
Pompa had no license, no papers, didn't speak English and was released.....
Delgado had his license, papers, spoke some English and was sent to Reynosa......
how did "federal officials" determine that Pompa was a citizen, but couldn't determine that Delgado was?
wtf?
I was thinking something similar.
George...
What laws can we pass that police officers cannot abuse?
Uh guys...this was THE BORDER PATROL (FEDS) that deported the guy.
none that I can think of, but I'm a little more comfortable that a cop won't abuse jaywalking laws and wrongfully deport someone.
Yep...
The legal guy must not have had the ounce to give them to let him pass.
None can be passed. Which is why many people have the problem with the AZ law... Now let's get back to 'reasonable su ion' clause of the AZ law... How many officers who don't like illegals will abuse their power?
This is exactly what many of the opponents of the AZ fear happening...
I wasn't implying the AZ law caused this..rather it is a concern of what could happen. I was pointing out that this stuff happens without a law..now we have a state that gives police officers the right to abuse thier power.. For clarification purposes I'm not stating that all cops will abuse their power rather it just takes a few to do it..so what will be the recourse for those people who are kicked out of the country in error..will the US pay for the person to come back?
You don't get it George...
Mistakes will be made. It's the end that justify the means.
Just as long it's not you that's getting deported, you should just be quiet and roll along with it...
/sarcasm
What's not going to be cheap is when this guy comes back and sues the government... then we can analyze how much these mistakes are really costing us...
Or when someone can prove that the reason they were stopped in AZ was invalid they can then sue the state..
from Reynosa? he might be able to walk back over the border.
but I've wondered how they would deport someone that looks/speaks with a middle eastern dialect
Ummm..no. You were implying the AZ law caused this. Your OP "Consequences of AZ law... " clearly posits a cause and effect here.
BTW, there is no "right" to abuse power. It's either abuse or it's not. Rights do not enter the equation here.
Ok you have no idea of what I was implying.. My intention was to bring to light what will happen in AZ.. You are free to make things up about my intentions...
Nothing appears to be cheap in modern jurisprudence. Cost effectiveness is almost a non sequitur.
If a lawsuit is successful then, good. That's a correction mechanism in action. Most laws aren't pristine in their conception.
The OP " Possible consequences of AZ law" might've been clearer. I'm not making anything up...I'm literally reading your OP.
It was intended to be a deeper implication..I know TX has not passed an immigration law...this scenario is going to played out in AZ now..hence a consequence of the AZ law..
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