I've been receiving a great deal of emails from across the state about the Santos family and a couple of readers requested that I re-post my coverage of similar, which is just as heart-breaking...the story of Tereza Pereira.Pereira came to the United Staes on a visitor's visa 19 years ago and made a living cleaning homes and businesses in the area.
She started working toward legal status in 1997, had legal representation and went to his court cases properly. In December 2000, she had a hearing in which she could apply for a status called "cancellation of removal." This status is given by a judge to individuals so that they can stay in the United States under the condition that they lived in the United States for ten years or more, have good moral character, and have children who are citizens of the United States.
Now, here's where things get really screwed up...
At the hearing, the judge set a 30-day deadline for Pereira to file a her application. He also set a final hearing date for April 30, 2001.
But Pereira's attorney at the time did not submit the application, and on April 30, 2001, the judge ruled that Pereira had 60 days to leave the country voluntarily. If she did not leave, then the judge would order her removal.
According to Boyle, Pereira's attorney at the time told her the decision would be appealed, but no appeal was ever filed. The attorney filed a motion on July 30, 2001, to reopen the case, seeking to file the late application. A judge, however, denied the motion.
The attorney then sent a letter of appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, which subsequently lost the letter. On March 26, 2004, the appeals board wrote to Pereira's attorney, asking that the appeal papers be refiled. The attorney, however, did not do so, and on June 4, 2004, the appeals board ordered Pereira removed from the United States in a written decision to the attorney.
Pereira and her family say they were never notified of the decision, despite calls to the attorney asking for updates on the case.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Pereira on a deportation warrant Jan. 24 at her Skyline Terrace home. She was taken to Hartford and then placed in Cumberland County Jail in Portland, Maine.
Like the Santos family, a teen (who was born i this country) was left behind while a mother was in jail and faces an uncertain future if his mother is deported.
Thiago Lima, who was born in America, is taking advanced placement and honors classes as a sophomore at Danbury High School. He is less than a year away from a black belt in kickboxing and is a member of Danbury High's cross-country and track teams.
[...]
If Pereira, who has been in the United States for 19 years, is deported, she would have the option of taking her sons with her. Bryan Lima, 6, likely would return with his mother, but Thiago isn't so sure he would, he said.
"I am not very fluent in Portuguese. I can't write it. If I go to Brazil, I would be far behind," he said. "My brother likely would be behind, too, but would have several years in the school system."
The education system in Brazil is divided into four main levels: preschool, fundamental, intermediate and higher education.
Most 15-year-olds are in the intermediate level, which is comparable to high school but usually takes three years.
To go to college, students are required to take an entrance examination, called the "vestibular." They take an exam -- in Portuguese -- geared to the area of study they plan to pursue, Maria Theresa Diniz Forster, a spokeswoman at the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, D.C., explained.
Thiago said he'd likely have to wait several years to learn the language before trying to get into college.
But if he stays in America, Thiago hopes to attend New York University or Boston College to study English when he graduates from Danbury High in 2009.
Thiago would face obvious hardship, too, living in America without his mother. The family hasn't decided whether this is an option or whether Thiago's father would stay or go to Brazil.
"I wouldn't see my mom," he said. "That's what I face."
Attorney Michael Boyle picked up the case and filed motions to delay the deportation proceedings. He also filed a complaints against the lawyers who previously handled Pereira's case. Eventually, Pereira was ale to get out of jail and later, she talked about her ordeal.
The following information below are two posts on the Pereira's case, which were posted here, that I combined into to one report
As a sneak preview of the upcoming video posting of the immigration forum held at the Wilton Library last week, here is exclusive video of Tereza Pereira's attorney, Michael Boyle, views on Mayor Mark Boughton's immigration "enforcement" policy.For those who don't know, attorney Boyle was able to get Pereira released from jail and have her immigration case re-opened after filing a motion with the court.
A federal immigration judge in Hartford had agreed to reopen Pereira's immigration case and release her from jail after her attorney, Michael Boyle, had filed a motion in Hartford Immigration Court on Tuesday. It described previous attorneys' errors that led to Pereira's arrest at her Danbury home last month.
The judge agreed with Boyle that Pereira and her husband Lima, who both started working with Hartford-based lawyers in the 1990s to gain legal status, did not receive a fair hearing before immigration officials.
After several errors and miscommunication by previous attorneys, immigration officials ordered both of them removed, Boyle said. Pereira and Lima say they were never notified of that decision.
His comments at the forum echoes those of other individuals who have spoken out against Mayor Boughton's policy and as more details surrounding Pereira's situation, as well as the events surrounding the arrest of eleven day-laborers last year, come to the surface, expect more people top step forward and express their opinion (and/or outrage).
From this year's Stop the Raids Forum", here's video footage of Tereza Pereira in which she describe her ordeal.
On September 26, 2007, ten plaintiffs filed suit in response to an arrest of aday laborers at a public park in Danbury, Connecticut. Plaintiffs amended their complaint on November 26, 2007.
