Separated boy, 6, set to reunite with mom
But action may not meet court-ordered deadline
NEW YORK — An immigration judge has cleared the way for a 6-year-old boy to be sent back to Guatemala after he was taken from his mother at the border and she was deported without him.
But it remains unclear if federal immigration authorities will reunite the boy, Leo Jeancarlo De Leon-Lopez, with his mother in Guatemala to meet a court-ordered deadline to reunite all separated families by Thursday.
The final chapter of an ill-fated journey in which Leo became one of thousands of undocumented immigrant children taken from their parents under the Trump administration’s zerotolerance policy played out Thursday in a brief Immigration Court hearing in Manhattan.
Wearing a brown T-shirt adorned with a skateboarding cartoon charac-
ter, Leo took a seat in Immigration Judge Randa Zagzoug’s small 14th-floor courtroom.
His skinny legs dangled from the black chair, not reaching the floor.
Jessica Flores Lynch, an attorney from Catholic Charities, admitted that Leo and his mom had entered the country without required immigration approval, and asked for voluntary departure on Leo’s behalf.
A Spanish-language interpreter explained the proceedings to Leo as Lynch spoke.
An attorney representing the Department of Homeland Security assented, without objection. Then, the judge made it official.
“Good luck to you, Leo,” Zagzoug said. Then the boy left the courtroom, holding the hand of an unidentified woman who declined to speak. Silent federal agents escorted the boy and woman onto an elevator and away.
Anthony Enriquez, a supervising attorney with Catholic Charities in New York, said the agency believes the federal government is obligated to reunite Leo with his mother in Guatemala before Thursday’s deadline to comply with the court order.
“Leo misses his family and wishes to reunify as soon as possible,” Enriquez said in an email.
Catholic Charities secured an order of voluntary departure so that Leo could be reunited with his mother before the deadline, he said.
In contrast with an order of removal, voluntary departure allows a child to leave the U.S. without legal burdens, such as penalties preventing deported immigrants from returning for up to 10 years.
By law, orders of voluntary departure must be carried out within 120 days, Enriquez said.
Department of Homeland Security attorneys, however, have argued that separated children whose parents have already been deported do not have to be reunited by Thursday’s deadline, Enriquez said.
But Catholic Charities does not believe that is the case.
“Catholic Charities will continue to vigorously advocate for Leo and other separated children to be reunited as soon as possible, in all cases by the July 26 deadline,” he said.
It seems unlikely that Leo will be reunited with his mother before the courtimposed deadline because several more steps must take place before he can be sent back to Guatemala.
After receiving an order of voluntary departure, it generally takes several more weeks for children to receive a travel document from the government of their home country and for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to find available space on a plane, said Maite Garcia, a staff attorney who handles children’s cases at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. The non-profit group provides legal services to unaccompanied minors and immigrants in detention in Arizona and is not involved in Leo’s case.
“In essence, it’s the government’s responsibility to return them safely and to repatriate them safely,” Garcia said.
The boy’s mother, Lourdes Marianela De Leon, said she was thrilled when a Catholic Charities lawyer and a social worker from the U.S. informed her shortly after the court hearing that Leo may soon be returned to her in Guatemala.
“I really think that finally he will soon be at my side,” she wrote in a text message. “He is also happy and asked that they call me because he wanted me to know what happened. He was really happy because he says that we are going to be together again.”
They did not give her a date, however. De Leon and Leo entered the U.S. illegally in May after traveling through Mexico fleeing poverty in Guatemala in hopes of starting a new life in the U.S. They were headed to New Jersey, where De Leon has relatives.
After being apprehended by the Border Patrol near San Luis, Arizona, Leo was taken from his mother under the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy directing the Border Patrol to refer for criminal prosecution every person caught entering the country illegally, including parents accompanied by children.
The Trump administration ended the separation of families on June 20 amid mushrooming political pressure and an international outcry.
After being separated from his mom, Leo was transported more than 2,000 miles to the New York City facilities of a non-profit called Cayuga Centers.
DeLeon, meanwhile, was deported to Guatemala on June 7, ICE officials have said.
The company specializes in foster care and has received millions of dollars in contract awards from the U.S. Department of Human Services since 2014 to provide services to unaccompanied migrant children until the youngsters can be reunited with their parents or other relatives.
During the daytime, the children come to Cayuga Centers facilities in Manhattan’s East Harlem neighborhood or in the Bronx, for school programs and other services. At night, the children go home to bilingual foster families around the city.
ICE officials have refused to say how many parents have been deported without their children after they were taken away at the border. But immigrant advocates have speculated the number could be in the hundreds.