For ten years due to a mistake he made when leaving his twins inside a car, the threat of separation does not leave her
Celia Torres, a mother who for a few minutes ten years ago, left her twin daughters with about five or six months born in her car, fights against the clock to avoid deportation.
As a last resort for not being deported and separated from her four children, she has clung to the request for a U Visa that the United States government gives to crime victims who cooperate with the police.
“Yesterday I showed up at the ICE offices in Santa Ana with a letter from my lawyer informing that my application process for a U visa is going to start, since I was attacked by the people to whom I rented a room” , He says.
Last October, ICE gave Celia an ultimatum to leave the country. On Tuesday, February 25, she was summoned by the immigration authorities, and got them to give her an extra month to stay here.
In 1999, he emigrated from Mexico and settled in Orange County. In this country, she gave birth to her four children, whose ages are currently 13, 9 and 2 years old. The twins are currently nine years old.
His immigration problems began ten years ago when he went to pay a phone bill to a store, and it occurred to him to leave his twins inside his car.
“It was the month of October, it was not hot. They fell asleep in their chairs inside the car with the steering wheel door open. I left them entrusted to a friend who had arrived on a bicycle to the same place. The store where I went to pay also had windows, and I could watch them from there, ”he says.
What he did not count on is that an Anglo-Saxon woman who parked right away from her car, realized that the girls were alone and called Costa Mesa police to report her.
"When I left, the woman told me not to leave because the police were already on the way."
When the police officer arrived at the scene, he asked for his driver's license. “I told him I didn't have. He asked me if there was a family member with a license to pick up the car and the girls. I called my daughters dad's phone from which I was separated, and they handed the car and the girls, ”he says.
Celia was detained for a week in the police separations of Costa Mesa.
"They released me, but they passed me with migration. ICE agents asked me for $ 7,500 bond to let me out. All this happened in 2010 ”, He says.
From that date, he began a martyrdom for this single mother, whose greatest fear is to separate from her children.
“I have had several lawyers, and I have paid thousands of dollars. With two or three jobs such as dishwashers, cooks and house cleaning, I have lived to pay for legal representation and with the basics for half eating and paying bills, ”he observes.
The limited budget led her to sublet a room in her rental department, but with such bad luck, that a tenant did not want to pay her rent and assaulted her when asked to leave.
"One of them got me a work permit, but in October of last year, the last lawyer I had, told me that there was nothing left to do, that my children were healthy and I went to Mexico."
Celia thought her children were very good, but it turns out that Spencer, her oldest son was already affected with all the stress that the threat of deportation from her parent has brought her. “They just called me from their school to ask me what's going on, since my son went from being a child in the honors box to having low grades. I have been recommended to take him to the therapist because the child suffers from trauma, ”he says.
“My child told me that he didn't feel motivated to study knowing that they were going to deport me,” he says.
Celia recognizes that at times she feels helpless without being able to do anything. However, he says that he then regains strength and realizes that he needs to fight for his children and to remain in this country where he can offer them a better life.
On Tuesday, February 25, members of the community demonstrated in Santa Ana to demand that ICE stop the deportation process of this mother of four, because they believe it would cause irreparable harm to her family.
Ana Ramírez of the Orange County Rapid Response Network says that unfortunately they learned about Celia's case last August when she was coming to an end.
"Together we are raising our voice against deportations, helping immigrants in this situation find a lawyer and make them feel they are not alone," he says.
They also support immigrants to raise funds so they can pay lawyers.
“The purpose of the network is to teach them to navigate the migration system and to take leadership of their case,” he says.
They have also asked the ICE officer, Lory C. Torres with jurisdiction in southern California, to exercise procedural discretion, and dismiss Celia's case due to extreme and special circumstances.
If Celia obtained the U visa, she could stop deportation, obtain a work permit and get on track to obtain residency. "For now we have to get the police certification of the aggression I suffered," says Celia.
