SANDY HUFFAKER/AFP/Getty Images) Laura Maradiaga, 11, faces possible deportation back to her homeland of El Salvador alone due to an immigration paperwork mix-up.
Laura Maradiaga’s fate hangs in the balance as immigration rights advocates fight to prevent her from being deported alone from her current home in Houston, Texas to El Salvador. “We find ourselves with an 11-year-old who could potentially get deported to El Salvador by herself,” immigrant advocacy organization Fiel Houston spokesperson Cesar Espinosa said April 11.
Here’s what you need to know about the Laura Maradiaga deportation case:
1. Laura and her Family Entered the Southern Border Illegally Seeking Refugee Satus
Maradiaga, her mother and sister, all crossed the southern border last October and entered the United States illegally. The family was hoping to escape the escalating violence and corruption in El Salvador, a country of 6.5 million.
The Southern border has been a flashpoint issue for the Trump administration, which is attempting to curtail the influx of Central American refugees by keeping them in Mexico. Most of the refugees are fleeing violence in their homelands to seek asylum in the United States. The majority of refugees immediately surrender themselves to border patrol officers, hoping to immediately begin the asylym process.
In 2018 there was a 27% increase in the number of families who crossed the borders between Mexico, Texas and California. USA Today described many of those who are crossing as families crossing the border in large groups.
2. A Paperwork Error During the Government Shutdown Triggered the Deportation Hearing
In #Houston, 11-year-old Laura Maradiaga is set to be deported from the United States without her parents. @projas_p interviewed the family. #UNEWS pic.twitter.com/Ahjn77LHOr
— Univision News (@UnivisionNews) April 11, 2019
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
According to FIEL Houston, the family acknowledges that they entered the United States illegally but have been complying with all mandated court dates. But at some point during the government shutdown which occcurred between December 2018-January 2019, Laura’s name was inadvertently removed from the family’s case file.
Laura’s mother, Dora Alvarado, told the Houston Chronicle that she felt something was wrong when she and her daughters arrived at immigration court on March 12 but there was no mention of Laura on the paperwork. Alvarado, who cannot read or speak English, was told by the court translator that she and her 15-year-old daughter Adamaris Alvarado were the only two family members listed on court documents.
A few days later, a letter in English arrived for Laura, but it wasn’t until the family showed up in court this week that they discovered that the letter stated that Laura was set to be deported. Maradiago’s sister, Adamaris, sought help from a school counselor who was able to put the family in touch with immigration advocates. Alvarado told Univision that she’s very concerned because there are no family members who can take care of Laura back in El Salavador should the little girl be forced to return home.
3. An Attorney is Working Pro Bono to Keep the Family Together
Houston attorney Silvia Mintz has taken on Maradiaga’s case pro bono, and is hoping to keep the child in the United States with her mother and sister. Maradiaga’s attorney, Silvia Mintz, filed a petition to reopen her case to see if she can remain in the United States. Mintz chalks the error up to an overwhelming number of cases. The Houston Chronicle reported that there is a backlog of around 800,000 immigration cases.
On April 12, FIEL Houston stated that the Executive Office for immigration review confirmed that the removal order was issued and said that it was investigating the case.”We ask immigration to reconsider this case and we asked immigration to look further and to prevent these type of cases and situations from happening,” FIEL Houston’s Espinoza said.
4. Laura was Being Harrassed by Gang Members in El Salvador
“Laura was being accosted by some gang members so they fleed in order to search for a better life,” explained FIEL Houston’s Espinosa. Since arriving in the U.S., Mariadaga and her sister have been attending classes and acclimating to life in the U.S. “I feel safe here,” Laura told reporters at an April 11 press conference. Maradiaga told a Univision reporter that she was afraid of leaving her family behind and going back to El Salvador by herself.
Making matters even more dangerous, one of Maradiaga’s relatives testified against a gang member. Since then, family members have been kidnapped and murdered. Maradiaga’s mother recalls El Salvador’s civil war in the 1980s, revealing that the situation is far more dangerous now. “The gangs don’t play by the rules of war,” she told the Houston Chronicle.
El Salvador has the third highest death rate for women in the world. The Small Arms Survey, an organization that collects data about armed violence states that 524 women were killed for every 5,000 women in El Salvador in 2016. The Atlantic says that gangs are actively targeting young girls. “To refuse the gangs’ demands can mean death for girls and their families,” the site said.
“She would also be deported to face a very probable death at the hands of the violent gangs in El Salvador which was the main reason why Laura’s family left in the first place,” revealed an April 10 Facebook post by FIEL Houston. Mintz is hoping that Maradiaga and her family will be able to have this issue resolved by the end of April.
Gang Violence and Corruption has Triggered a Mass Exodus from El Salvador
According to Crisis Group International, there is a well-deserved climate of fear in El Salvador. CGI estimates 20,000 people were killed by gang members between 2014-2017. The perpetrators are the “maras,” criminal gangs throughout El Salvador. CGI estimates that gangs have permeated 94% of of El Salvadors 242 municipalities.
The most well-known gang is is Mara Salvatrucha, better known as “MS-18, the Revolutionaries and the Southerners. In the captial of San Salvador, the maras run “checkpoints,” that shake local resident down for money as they walk past. CGI reports that children as young as eight years old are being used to collect money at these check points. Anyone who refuses to pay may be harrassed, beaten or killed. In adddition to harming locals, there is frequent gang warfare that kills members along with innocent bystanders.
The gangs are also known to take over family homes placed in strategic locations. Calling these homes “casas locas” (“crazy houses”), gang members use them to conducting meetings, drink, initiate new gang members and in some cases, sexually abuse woman and young girls.
The Trump administration is currently deporting Salvadoran refugees who are fleeing from their homeland to escape gang violence. The U.S. government announced that it will be terminating the Protected Status Designation of Salvadoran refugees who currently live and work legally in the United States.