Girl sought in U.S. custody case gets hearing in Mexico

MEXICO CITY— A teenage girl at the center of a U.S. custody case appeared in a Mexican court Tuesday, two weeks after authorities mistakenly seized another girl with a similar name and sent her across the border.

Alondra Diaz Garcia was presented to a court in Los Reyes, Michoacan state, for a hearing to confirm her identity and to consider a demand for custody made by Dorotea Garcia, a Houston, Texas, woman who claims to be her mother.

The 13-year-old girl is believed to have been taken by her father to Mexico in 2007 without Garcia’s consent.

Garcia traveled to Mexico on Monday and told local reporters: “I’m dying to hold her in my arms and I hope to return with her.”

Alicia Diaz, the girl’s aunt, who accompanied her to the court, said her brother, Reynaldo Diaz, decided to leave the girl with her grandmother to personally hand her over to Garcia.

She said she was sure Alondra would be happy with Garcia, although, “We will miss her.”

Garcia’s search for her daughter attracted international attention last month when authorities seized another girl, 14-year-old Alondra Luna, and the court ordered her into the woman’s custody despite protests by the teen’s parents. A video of the girl resisting police after the court ruling spread widely in television broadcasts and online, prompting protests for her return.

Alondra Luna traveled with Garcia to Texas, but DNA tests taken days later revealed the mistake and she returned to her family in Mexico.

Judge Cinthia Elodia Mercado, who ordered Alondra Luna be sent to Texas, continues to preside over Garcia’s case.