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Immigrant copes with tragedies, detention --- Humanitarian issue
Ileyan Villa, 4, waited for her mother, Veronica Villa, to be released from the Otero County Detention Center. Villa was being held on illegal immigration charges Providing for eight children after the death of her husband in a traffic accident will be challenge enough for Veronica Villa. But now Villa, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, faces a struggle to stay in the United States, where she has lived and raised her children for more than 14 years. Villa was detained by the U.S. Border Patrol on June 10 while trying to re-enter the country in the Fabens area. She had crossed the border to attend her father's funeral in Juárez. Villa was taken to the Otero County Detention Center in Alamogordo and faced immediate deportation, which can be done without a court appearance when the arrest is within 100 miles of the border, according to Villa's lawyer. While she was at the detention center, her husband, Ricardo Villa, visited regularly. Last weekend, he arrived too early and was told he couldn't see her, so he went to Fabens to drop off a truck and pick up another vehicle. Before he could return to the prison, he was killed in what appears to be a single-car accident, sheriff's department officials said. "In two weeks, Veronica lost her father, her husband and she was detained," said Sister Liliane Alam, executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. "We need a new immigration bill for cases like this. A mother has the right to take care of her children. É We need to keep families together." Thanks to a relatively unusual action by the Border Patrol, Villa was to be reunited with her children on Friday and she will be able to remain in the United States at least until her court case is resolved. The Border Patrol waived the "expedited removal order," but she still faces a charge of illegal entry, a federal misdemeanor that carries a maximum prison sentence of six months. "For humanitarian reasons, she was given a different process," said Border Patrol Agent Martin Hernandez, an agency spokes man. "Once we found out that the husband had died and she had children, we gave her a notice to appear on her own recognizance. É For the time being, she was allowed to take care of whatever issues she has with her family." Alam credited the Border Patrol with making a "humane" decision. "This is really unusual," said Lorely Ramirez Mravetz, a Las Americas lawyer who represented Villa. "Once an expedited (removal) order has been issued, that's usually it." Villa has a decent chance to stay in the United States because she has lived here for more than 10 continuous years, will be able to prove she is of good moral character and has only her mother left in Mexico, Ramirez Mravetz said. One of her children also has a learning disability and may need medical care, Alam added. "She has to show her removal would result in exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to her children," Ramirez Mravetz said. The entire Las Americas staff was involved in the case, Alam said. "From noon Sunday until (Friday), this was our work," she said. People in the housing project where Villa's family has been staying have helped greatly, she said, adding that she hoped the El Paso community would also contribute. Villa's family had hoped she would be released in time to attend her husband's burial Friday morning at the municipal cemetery in Chapparal, N.M., but it took longer than expected and she was still being processed late Friday afternoon. Villa's mother traveled to El Paso from Juárez on a 30-day border-crossing card and has been taking care of the children. Waiting for her daughter Friday afternoon, Maria Elena Pitones said she was glad that, after 12 days apart, the family would be reunited. Pitones said she planned to tell her daughter how happy she was and how much she loved her. "Soy feliz," she said. "Estoy contenta y la quiero mucho."
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