{"id":592075,"date":"2018-06-13T08:15:13","date_gmt":"2018-06-13T14:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=592075"},"modified":"2018-06-13T15:26:58","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T21:26:58","slug":"woman-seeking-asylum-was-separated-from-disabled-grandson-at-the-border-10-months-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/06\/woman-seeking-asylum-was-separated-from-disabled-grandson-at-the-border-10-months-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman seeking asylum was separated from disabled grandson at the border 10 months ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_306928\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-306928\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/SantaTeresa-771x498.jpg\" alt=\"Santa Teresa Port of Entry\" width=\"771\" height=\"498\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/SantaTeresa-771x498.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/SantaTeresa-336x217.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/SantaTeresa-768x496.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/SantaTeresa-1170x756.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/SantaTeresa.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Santa Teresa Port of Entry, shown here in 2012, is where\u00a0Maria Vandelice de Bastos and her 16-year-old grandson crossed into the United States seeking asylum last year.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ten months ago,\u00a0Maria Vandelice de Bastos and her 16-year-old grandson arrived at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry in New Mexico. The pair told federal agents they were seeking asylum.<\/p>\n<p>Though Vandelice de Bastos passed a standard screening for such claims, known as a credible fear interview, she and her grandson were soon separated and she hasn&#8217;t seen him since, according to her attorney.<\/p>\n<p>While she sits in a federal detention center in El Paso, Matheus da Silva Bastos, who has severe epilepsy and autism, is more than 2,000 miles away at a state-run center in Connecticut.<\/p>\n<p>Despite claims from the Trump administration that it\u00a0is only separating families seeking asylum who cross the border illegally in between ports of entry,\u00a0and only began doing so recently,\u00a0Vandelice de Bastos&#8217;s\u00a0case appears to\u00a0prove the exact opposite.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/13\/immigrant-child-asylum-disabilities-separated-grandmother-border\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>What&#8217;s more, caretakers of\u00a0Matheus in two different states have urged federal officials to reunite him with his grandmother,\u00a0records show.<\/p>\n<p>De Bastos&#8217; attorney, Eduardo Beckett, said his client told authorities during her credible fear interview that\u00a0she and her grandson\u00a0fled Brazil after off-duty cops threatened her for exposing what she said were the horrible conditions in the school her grandson attended.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe made noise, she went to police and to the prosecutor, and then to the press. The principal got fired and the principal happened to have a brother who\u2019s a cop,\u201d Beckett said. \u201cSo, the cop went and paid her a visit and said, \u2018We\u2019ll see what happens to you.\u2019 That\u2019s the case\u00a0in a nutshell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Soon after arriving, Vandelice de Bastos and Matheus were separated, and ever since, he\u2019s been in the custody of different organizations that care for immigrant children. Though she had papers from Brazil that identified her as Matheus&#8217; legal guardian,\u00a0he was classified as an unaccompanied minor because his grandmother was deemed an inadmissible alien by Customs and Border Protection officers, according to a copy of the Department of Homeland Security report completed last August.<\/p>\n<h3>&#8216;She never lied&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Beckett said his client once had a visa to legally\u00a0visit the United States. For years,\u00a0she was allowed to go back and forth from her home country and did so freely until she was stopped by CBP officials at John F. Kennedy International Airport in\u00a0New York in 2007. That\u2019s when Beckett said she admitted to doing what thousands of visa holders do every year:\u00a0working in the underground cash economy. According to her paperwork, she worked as a babysitter for $300 a week, triggering her deportation. But\u00a0the only thing unusual about what she did was admitting\u00a0to it,\u00a0Beckett\u00a0added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe never lied, she always told the truth and she never tried to sneak into the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Even still, the Department of Homeland Security makes clear that entering the United States is a &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/help.cbp.gov\/app\/answers\/detail\/a_id\/757\/~\/friend%2C-relative%2C-etc.-denied-entry-to-the-u.s.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">privilege, not a right.<\/a>&#8220;<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most obvious reasons for denied entry include if a person has previously worked illegally in the U.S., is suspected of being an intended immigrant (i.e. planning on staying in the U.S. past the terms of their admission), or of having ties to terrorist or criminal organizations,\u201d a CBP web page reads.<\/p>\n<p>After Vandelice de Bastos was denied re-entry, she signed a notice that she was prohibited from \u201centering, attempting to enter or being in the United States\u201d for five years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe did her time and she waited almost 10 years before coming back,\u201d Beckett said. \u201cThe only way they can reinstate a removal order is if she came illegally, but she wasn\u2019t trying to come in between the ports,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The DHS report from last August states she had no known criminal history in the United States at the time she and her grandson sought asylum, the only length of her time in the country illegally was \u201cat entry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But even if she had an existing deportation order, Beckett said\u00a0her asylum claim would supersede that under federal law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the whole point,\u201d he said. \u201cThey should not have been separated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both the the El Paso and San Antonio offices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comments about the case.<\/p>\n<p>A CPB spokesperson in Washington, D.C.,\u00a0said that it\u2019s not current policy to separate\u00a0families\u00a0unless they enter without inspection between the ports of entry. When told about Beckett\u2019s clients, she referred the Tribune back to the regional ICE offices in Texas. The spokesperson added that the agency complies with all applicable Americans with Disabilities Act policies when it processes persons with disabilities.<\/p>\n<h3>Round-the-clock care<\/h3>\n<p>During her time in Brazil, Beckett said, his client\u00a0took custody of her grandson after his parents abandoned him and moved to the United States, where they currently live legally. According to the state-run center in Connecticut, his parents are unable to care for him because they work full-time and can&#8217;t give him the round-the-clock care he needs.<\/p>\n<p>In a copy of the judgement from the state of Go\u00edas in Brazil, Vandelice de Bastos\u2019 petition states\u00a0that Matheus has \u201ca serious disease, [uses] continuous medication and needs special care.\u201d It adds that his parents \u201cdo not contribute for the child\u2019s support\u201d or \u201ctelephone to hear about their child.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Officials in the state-run facility that now care for Matheus have pushed for his release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMatheus was raised and cared for by his grandmother while in Brazil and is now having a lot of difficulties in his new environment,\u201d reads a letter from the state\u00a0Department of Children and Families in Connecticut.\u00a0\u201cHaving his grandmother present would be beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The government-funded organization\u00a0that\u00a0took custody of Matheus before he was transferred to Connecticut has also urged for his grandmother&#8217;s release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile minor was in our care and even upon minor\u2019s release, his overall well-being has significantly suffered due to be separated from his grandmother,\u201d Yunuen Rodriguez, a family reunification specialist with the Heartland Alliance in Chicago, wrote in November 2017.\u00a0That group is funded through the U.S.\u00a0Office of Refugee Resettlement.<\/p>\n<p>Beckett has since filed more paperwork with the immigration court to prove his client should not be deported. But he knows it\u2019s a challenging case because the judge\u00a0has already cast doubts that Vandelice de Bastos has a legitimate asylum claim.<\/p>\n<p>Asylum seekers must prove they face persecution in their home country due to their \u201crace, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beckett said the fact that she spoke out against her grandson&#8217;s\u00a0school and outed the administration could be an act of political expression, and he said the fact that she was threatened by police means they aren\u2019t capable of or willing to protecting her.<\/p>\n<p>But\u00a0in an audio recording of the immigration proceedings from earlier this year, Judge William Abbott said the cops weren\u2019t acting in their official capacity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re not going to be able to show the government acquiesced,\u201d he said. \u201cIt does not meet the requirements for either one of the applications [for asylum]. The fact is that the individuals that seek to harm her are two private individuals who are mad at her and want to retaliate. An act of persecution cannot form the basis for membership [of a social group].\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to federal statistics, asylum seekers from Brazil have a traditionally low rate of success. In 2016, 366 Brazilians applied for asylum. That same year, only seven application were granted while 36 were denied. Several more were either denied, abandoned or withdrawn.<\/p>\n<p>Asked what would happen to Matheus if his grandmother is deported, Beckett said the government would have custody of him until he\u2019s 21.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter that, who knows,\u201d he said.<script async src=\"https:\/\/cdn.texastribune.org\/pixel\/dot.min.29c708b3d0da5d17a725.js\" integrity=\"sha384-8Xwf\/TlQnmHiajg1t3dn8w4qlF1rmV33o5NAQVXYu0T2q3rHV5579zrSmRjh+XnM\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" data-tt-canonical=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/13\/immigrant-child-asylum-disabilities-separated-grandmother-border\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maria Vandelice de Bastos hasn&#8217;t seen her grandson for 10 months, since they crossed into New Mexico at a port of entry seeking asylum, according to her attorney. Her grandson has severe epilepsy and autism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":306928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,116],"class_list":["post-592075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}