In KC, mother of 3 U.S. children, including autistic 5-year-old, to be deported
In Kansas City, a Guatemalan mother of three U.S.-born children, including her 5-year-old daughter with severe autism, is to be deported after losing her bid to remain in the United States, a federal immigration official said Monday.
“The family is devastated,” said Kansas City immigration attorney Andrea Martinez.
Heidy Cifuentes, who entered the U.S. illegally in 2008, was arrested and detained Tuesday, May 27, when she showed up for what she thought was to be a routine, annual check-in appointment at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Kansas City.
‘Order of removal’
In the U.S. for 17 years, Cifuentes has three children born as U.S. citizens — Jeancarlo, 12, Kairy, 8 and Yaretzi, 5, who is autistic. In 2010, she received a deportation order, known as “an order of removal” from U.S. immigration court, but, each year, had been allowed to stay in the U.S.
Employed cleaning machinery at a pork processing plant after gaining legal work authorization, Cifuentes has no criminal record. Under previous presidential administrations, the deportation of individuals with no criminal records was not deemed a priority.
That has changed under President Donald Trump, whose campaign for his second term in the White House included a promise to launch “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
Under the Trump administration, deportation plans have expanded to student visa holders and immigrants in the U.S. on Temporary Protected Status. The Trump administration has also expanded the use of “expedited removal” allowing the deportation of immigrants who entered the U.S. within the last two years. The expanded use of expedited removal has triggered protests at immigration courts across the nation, including in Kansas City.
Instead of being allowed to return home from her ICE appointment, Cifuentes was detained by ICE agents and placed in custody. Martinez, her attorney, promptly filed what’s called an I-246 application for stay of deportation to keep her in the country on humanitarian grounds: Yaretzi needed her mother.
The 5-year-old is largely non-verbal, Humberto Merida, Cifuentes’ brother-in-law told The Star previously. But Cifuentes has a way of reaching her daughter.
“Yaretzi receives speech therapy. She helps her communicate. She is the person she trusts most in the world,” Merida said. “She is the only one who can calm her when she is overwhelmed.”
Irreparable damage
On Monday, Martinez received a letter from ICE:
“Upon review of the evidence submitted, it has been determined that your client does not warrant a favorable exercise of prosecutorial discretion. Your client’s application for a stay of removal is hereby denied and there is no appeal to this decision.”
The letter was signed by ICE Acting Deputy Field Office Director Erik R. Teschner.
The children’s father, who also is in the U.S. without legal status, did not want his name used for fear of arrest or detention. The children’s father does not have an order of removal filed against him.
Martinez said it is unclear when Cifuentes will be deported. She was being held in detention in Kansas City, near Kansas City International Airport, but was expected last week to be transferred to the Chase County Detention Center in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, in preparation for removal.
Martinez said that the family still has the legal option of filing a motion to reopen Cifuentes’ case, and asking a judge to reopen and perhaps reverse her 2010 removal order based on extraordinary circumstances. Filing such a motion does not automatically stop the process of deportation. And there is no guarantee the motion will be successful.
“Right now, the family is just devastated,” Martinez reiterated. “The three U.S. citizen kids don’t know how they will go on without their mom caring for them. Especially little 5-year-old Yaretzi with autism.
“The damage to that child will be irreparable.”
