Tara Ammons Cohen, Lifelong U.S. Resident, Deported to Mexico For Childhood Immigration Mix-up

[Hamburger Man 3]

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Tara Ammons Cohen of Omak was born in Mexico and adopted by American parents as a small child. Since then, she's spent almost every one of her 38 years living in the United States. But after a theft charge landed her in minor trouble, immigration officials got wind that her original adoption paperwork wasn't complete. Now a judge has ordered that she be deported back to Mexico, a place that's as foreign to her as it likely is to anyone who's never been there.

KOMO News <a href="http://www.komonews.com/news/local/111629494.html" target="_blank" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(37, 60, 135); background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">reports the story on Thursday, not long after immigration judge Tammy L. Fitting said that she had no choice but to order she be sent back across the border.

Cohen's plight is made only slightly less tragic by the fact that it was a crime that brought her immigration status to light. She was arrested for stealing another woman's purse and using her debit card in 2007.

Cohen says that taking the purse was an accident because she was drunk when it happened and that her purse and the one she stole looked similar, saying that it "was not done on purpose, whatsoever."

She doesn't address whether the woman's debit card looked similar to hers as well.

Regardless, a theft charge is a far cry from a serious felony and whether it justifies her being sent to a country that she knows only from stories and perhaps vague memories is a stretch.

Fitting's justification for deporting her, however, doesn't concern Cohen's minor criminal history, but rather, the paperwork that her adoptive parents apparently never completed. Basically, the judge is following the letter of the law to a T.

Cohen is married with three kids as well. But her family won't be going to Mexico with her, because her husband says it would be too dangerous for their children.

All that leaves is a woman who's effectively spent her entire life in the United States, doesn't know Spanish, can't bring her family with her to Mexico and can't come back to America.

Meanwhile, there are folks like Bernardino Ramirez-Santos, a Mexican citizen and Pierce County resident who's been deported four times already and spent a combined 24 of his 42 years locked up in American prisons and jails on various drug charges. A day before Cohen was deported, Ramirez-Santos was sentenced to seven more years behind bars for his latest trespassing charge, which will be paid for on the taxpayers' dime.

But hey, at least he'll get to stay in the U.S.

[LDG 2]

Definitely a living nightmare for anyone. Not too long ago a coworker's spouse was pulled over for something and somehow it came to light that he was out of status with immigration, and could be facing deportation. The guy is Canadian, he was adopted at a very young age by his American stepfather when he married his mother. I'm not sure where that whole deal has ended up so far, but that's a scary situation to be in, especially when you've lived here most of your life and have raised a family.

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

Her life started when she was born in Mexico, not when she was adopted. She also plead guilty to theft and drug trafficking charges, a small, yet important detail to consider.

[Boiler 45,784]

She would not be eligible for COR.

I would have thought that assuming her spouse is a USC they might have a shot of adjusting status but it does not look if they even tried.

It was mentioned on the other thread that The Mexican Gov funded an asylum claim. And that would be based on persecution by the Mexican Gov!

Lots of Mexicans come to the US not speaking English so I can not see the problem of a Mexican going to Mexico not speaking Spanish.

Edited December 11, 2010 by Boiler