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Court considers fate of adopted Guatemalan boy

By The World ⋅ December 6, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment
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The Missouri Supreme Court will decide the fate of a young boy

Have a question related to issues of family law? Professor Marcia Zug is answering listener questions here

By Sylvia Maria Gross

The Missouri Supreme Court is considering a case that involves an illegal Guatemalan immigrant and her US-born son.

The court’s ruling – whatever it is – will break some hearts.

Encarnacion Bail Romero was arrested in a raid at a poultry plant in Missouri. She went to jail for using fake papers to get the job. Meanwhile, her baby boy was adopted.

Now, the mother is being told she’ll have to return to Guatemala without her son, who she hasn’t seen since the day of the raid three. Carlos was seven months old at the time.

Bail Romero said she hadn’t taken pictures of the boy before being arrested.

“When I got out of jail, my sister had a photo of him and said, look, here’s a picture of your son – he’s beautiful.”

Bail Romero served two years in prison for identity theft, because she had used a false social security number to get a job. While she was serving time, her son was being taken care of by family members and their friends. One acquaintance knew of a couple, Seth and Melinda Moser, who were interested in adopting, and arranged for Carlos to spend time with them. The Moser’s attorney Rick Schnake said that Carlos flourished under their care, and soon became part of the family. They eventually adopted him.

“They’re his mommy and daddy, and he’s their little boy. He speaks English, not Spanish, and he’s a typical little four-year-old boy.”

Meanwhile, Bail Romero was in jail, and she had no idea where her son was.

“I kept asking for help because I wanted to know about my son,” she said, “where he was, if he was alive, how he was.”

Eventually, Bail Romero received some papers about the adoption, which a fellow prisoner translated for her. She wrote back, saying she did not want her son adopted. But a circuit court judge decided that Carlos would be better off with the Mosers. The judge wrote, “Bail Romero’s lifestyle, that of smuggling herself into the country illegally and committing crimes in this country, is not a lifestyle that can provide stability for a child.”

When Bail Romero was released in 2009, the Guatemalan embassy helped her find lawyers to try and reverse the adoption. The case was heard before the Missouri Supreme Court in November. Guatemalan ambassador Francisco Villagran de Leon made a statement after the hearing.

“Children of undocumented immigrants should not be given in adoption just because they are here illegally.”

Immigrant advocates are saying that this story is not an isolated case. Five-point-five million children in the United States have at least one undocumented parent, and from 1998 to 2007, 108,000 deported parents left children behind. Michelle Brané, of the Women’s Refugee Commission, said each time she’s visited a detention center she’s heard troubling stories from mothers.

“They brought up to us the fact that many of them did not know where their children were, how to contact their children, or were concerned that they had hearings or cases in family court that they were unable to attend.”

Brané said because immigration officials and child welfare workers don’t communicate well, it can appear that immigrant parents are abandoning their children.

And when immigrants face deportation, she said, the logistics of taking their American-born children with them can be next to impossible. “You can’t get a passport for your child. You may have difficulty getting documentation, or even making the arrangements for an airplane ticket or meeting at the airport to coordinate the actual travel.”

Brané is advocating for a bill currently in Congress, which would require Immigration and Customs Enforcement to better facilitate parents’ interaction with their children. It would also require that I.C.E. work better with state child welfare agencies. I.C.E. officials have said they’re already making policies more family-friendly.

But that’s small comfort to Encarnacion Bail Romero. She has a temporary visa to stay in the country until the case is resolved, which could happen any time this month.

Bail Romero said her deportation is imminent. “I know they’re going to send me to Guatemala. But I want to go with my son, not by myself.”

And of course Carlos’ adoptive family is hoping that he’ll spend Christmas in Missouri.
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Discussion

17 comments for “Court considers fate of adopted Guatemalan boy”

  • K Perez

    This is grass roots racism in America. The predominant Western European,white culture is afraid of “different people”. You could say that people from Mississipi and Tennesse don’t speak English either. I know I just got back from there 3 days ago.

  • K Perez

    What can a normal person do to help these people, besides writing to congresspersons?

  • Melissa

    In my opinion children born in the U.S. to an Undocumented person should not automatically be a U.S. citizen. The children are born here illegally. Therefore, the children should be deported with the parents…If the U.S. had harsher penalties Undocumented people would think twice about giving birth here. Moreover, I oppose the Dream Act as well.

    • K Perez

      It is hard for me to hear someone who was born in this country from illegal immigrants pass judgement. Native Americans didn’t invite your forefathers. If there were harsher penalties, your food would cost about 20% more, hence, so would everything else. You are just another example of a greedy American. Everything for yourself, and if someone wants to make their life better you are opposed to it.

    • Michael

      Melissa,

      If you and your children were surrounded by poverty and violence and you knew that if you stayed where you’d been born your children would have no hope for a better life, wouldn’t you go wherever you had to in order to provide them with a better future? Would you be willing to break the law if it meant saving your child from starvation, rape or murder? Would you be willing to give-up all you know and learn a new language?

    • Robin

      Melissa – Two years in prison and having her infant son stolen – after years of working in subhuman conditions, for less than minimum wage (so you can gorge yourself on cheap bacon)…is not punishment enough? What would you propose? Execution? Selling the mother and child’s organs for to the highest bidders? How should these undocumented families -native Americans, no less – compensate for your enjoying a standard of living far in excess of your own productive capacity? Face it – you have enjoyed the fruits of their exploitation. It is not enough for you that the mother has had to live like a slave and then a prisoner in one of our hell-holes. Lets hope that one of your own children will be forces to immigrate in desperation and suffer similar abuses for the crime of wanting to work and support a family.

      • http://www.TaxRefual.com Daniel J. Lavigne

        Robin’s comment is an appropriate expression of disgust at a human being who would treat other humans as “less than human”.

        However, the last sentence indicates an inability to realize that all such suggestions are counter-productive.

        Yes, “Melissa” seems to suffer from issues such as personal insecurities. But that is no reason to wish that a similar horror be visited upon her or her children.

        To a safer, saner and more caring world.

        To Duty.

        Daniel J. Lavigne, Founder
        International Humanity House (IHH)
        http://www.TaxRefusal.com

    • Anton Baker

      America’s founding fathers are by reputation among the greatest and most intelligent men to have walked the face of this earth. They realized that justice is best learned from looking at the body of human experience. If some qualification other than birth in this country would have been a better criterion for citizenship they surely would have put it in the constitution.
      It may well be that being usurpers of the native people’s land they recognized that they would never have perfect title to the land thus any other usurper would have an equally valid claim. Hands off the children.

    • SB

      So, do you favor changing the Constitution? Because a child’s being born here being a citizen is in the Constitution.

  • Robert Wantroba

    I just went through a similar experience with my god-daughters. ICE told me that the girls, aged 1 1/2 and 3 were not their problem. I immediately took out a temporary custody and waited to see what the lawyers would do. The person I’m writing about was here legally until the US and Argentina govts. decided to get rid of the visa program. She had a work permit, ID number, paid taxes, etc. everything right. Now all of them are in Argentina, but the adventure still goes on since the girls are US citizens and can only be there for 90 days. They either need to go to a neighboring country, then come back in, or pay $100.00 for an extension. Immigration and ICE make me hate this country.

  • Lauren Orlen

    The problem of undocumented workers who are returned to their countries of origin having access to their children holds a place of extreme importance to me. I am a US born citizen living in the United States,but my son’s father is a man who was an undocumented worker from Guatemala who has since returned. As the law stands now, my son and his father may never be able to see each other. This is heartbreaking for me, my sons father, and for my son. I desperately hope for a change in our immigration policy that would allow for a family like ours to be reunited safely.

  • Joey McGillivary

    Because Mexico continues to use the U.S as it’s welfare system,children of illegal aliens pay the consequences.We the American people have nothing against the majority of Mexican citizens,it’s the corrupt officials of the so called Mexican governmentwho don’t take care of their citizens,then the chlidren of these illegal aliens suffer the consequences

  • http://christiansandimmigrants.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/passports-for-children/ J Goldberger

    There is a collaboration of churches in Oregon helping immigrant families apply for passports for their US born children. It wouldn’t address a finding of “neglect” during deportation proceedings, but it’s one step toward helping a family stay together in case of deportation.

  • http://christiansandimmigrants.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/passports-for-children/ J Goldberger

    A coalition of churches in Oregon is helping immigrant families apply for passports for their US born children. Doesn’t help in these cases where the courts take the children away, but this small step can help families stay together in case the parents are deported.

  • http://www.catherinemurphyphoto.com Catherine Murphy

    This is unbelievable!

  • rubs444

    This is only half of what is going on. What they don’t want you to know is that there is proof of abuse and neglect, abandonment. But all they want to talk about is immigration. So lets talk about it, most people see that the mother said that she didn’t know what was going on when she was in jail, but what she doesn’t say is why. well when you are in jail under another stolen name that will happen. This is just her trying to find another way to stay in the US. And hopefully change laws. I vote the child stays with his parents that knows. for more on this go to http://www.intheinterestofjamison.com

  • christian

    Unbelievable. One proof more that the US doesn’t care about human right, that USG is (and always has been) right extremists and racists, and that the US policies are alike those of Nazi Germany. And the election of Obama didn’t change anything, Obama’s the black friend every racist is to have. As said Rev.Wright, GOD DAMN AMERICA !