by Elizabeth Baier
Minnesota Public Radio
April 14, 2009
It's a story that's made headlines for years -- immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally are detained and sent back to their home countries. A lot of times, they leave families behind, including U.S.-born kids.
Minneapolis, Minn. — Celia Hernandez, 17, is one of them. Hernandez and her family live in Minneapolis, and for the last year and half, they've tried to keep their family from falling apart.
It was fifth period at Roosevelt High, when Celia Hernandez got called to the main office. She walked down the hall, past rows of red lockers and into a conference room.
When she saw the school's Spanish interpreter and an assistant principal inside, she knew something was wrong.
"They sat me down and they were like, 'Your mom called and said your dad was deported,'" Celia recalled.
Earlier that morning, after Celia had left for school, agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Fugitive Operations Team arrested her dad outside the family's home in Minneapolis, according to ICE spokesman Tim Counts.
Authorities considered Jorge Hernandez a fugitive, because he had ignored an earlier order by a federal immigration judge to leave the country, Counts said.
Celia said when she heard the word deported, she felt like her dad had died.
"Because their stuff is left behind ... his shoes," said Celia, fighting back tears. "You feel like you want everybody to know, because it's wrong and they shouldn't do that."
Celia knows her parents broke the law many years ago when they crossed the border into the U.S. But she never imagined she'd have to assume the role of part-time parent because of that decision.
Her family is what authorities call a mixed-status family.
Mom and dad entered the country illegally, while Celia and her younger brother and sister are U.S.-born citizens. Those circumstances were bound to throw Celia into a situation way beyond her control.
Celia remembers the last conversation she had with her dad while he was in jail, waiting to be deported.
"I just heard him crying on the other side of the phone," she said. "He just said my name and he was crying and he just said, 'Take care of my brother and my sister.'"
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/04/14/children_of_deported/
