After 17 years, Ohio mom of 4 faces deportation

An Ohio mother of four who has lived in the U.S. for 17 years faced deportation Tuesday, nine days after a routine traffic stop that led authorities to discover her undocumented status.

Beatriz Morelos Casillas, 37, her husband and their children live in Painesville, 30 miles northeast of Cleveland. Casillas was stopped, then arrested for driving without a license.


This family photos shows the Casillas family. Beatriz Morelos Casillas, a mother of four, faces ...more

WKYC-TV

Casillas was taken into custody immediately and later was scheduled to be deported to the Texas border state of Tamaulipas — one of the most dangerous places in Mexico. The kids, ages 4 to 12, are U.S. citizens and never have been out of the United States, her husband, Jose DeJesus, said.

"She doesn't have anybody in Mexico," DeJesus said. "Everything she owns, everything she has is right here. ... She is here to live the American dream."

Veronica Dahlberg, who leads the advocacy group HOLA Ohio, told USA TODAY that another detainee told the family Tuesday morning that Casillas was taken from the detention center, apparently to be flown to Texas and then sent across the border.

"We know from experience that this is how things go," Dahlberg said. "They will drop her in the worst city, with no money, and say 'good luck.'"

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Dahlberg said DeJesus has flown to Texas so he can meet her in Mexico once the family can confirm that she is there.

Cassilas was deported once before, limiting her rights to fight the order. Still, Casillas' lawyer, Elizabeth Ford, was pressing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to let Casillas stay in the U.S.

Just last week, however, ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan stressed at a White House news conference that there should be no safe haven for undocumented immigrants.

ICE did not respond to requests for comment from USA TODAY on the Casillas case.

The Rev. Steve Vellenga, pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Painesville, has been trying to rally support for Casillas.

"We did the best we could to bring her case forward," Vellenga told USA TODAY. "They want to scare people. They want people to think 'This could happen to you.'"

The State Department has issued an ominous travel warning for Tamaulipas.

"U.S. citizens should defer all non-essential travel to the state of Tamaulipas due to violent crime, including homicide, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, extortion and sexual assault," the warning says. "The number of reported kidnappings in Tamaulipas is among the highest in Mexico."

In fact, a Painesville man recently deported there was kidnapped last week by a Mexican crime cartel, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Francisco Narciso was released Sunday night after enduring five days of beatings and starvation when his girlfriend in Painesville wired two payments of nearly $4,000, the newspaper said.

"She is not a criminal, not a violent person, and she is being sent back to a situation where her life will be at risk," Vellenga said. "This is the result of years of failing to reform immigration. We don't see the immorality of what we are doing."


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ico/528232001/

She was deported and came again as EWI?

That is extremely common, many people try crossing the border and get caught and then try again days later.

Did that guy get released by the kidnappers?

"When his girlfriend in Painesville wired two payments of nearly $4,000, the newspaper said"

"“They basically dumped him out at the border in the middle of the night in a dangerous Mexican community with no regard for his safety,”

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immi...er-lawyer-says

I did read that but I'm unsure if he got out alive. Thanks