To: Francisco Venegas, ICE Deputy Field Office Director, Norma Lacy, Public Advocate for ICE, and President Donald Trump
Veronica, a loving single mom, is being deported for simply taking care of her son!
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Veronica Ayala is a single mother from San Antonio, Texas, who is facing deportation because she sought medical help for her son at the hospital. No mother should be deported for taking care of her children! Damian, three years old, is a special needs child and needs his mother. Please grant deferred action and stop the deportation of Maria Veronica Ayala (A# A200595406).
Why is this important?
In 2010, Veronica's son, Damian, accidentally broke his ankle while in the care of a babysitter. Like any mother would, Veronica immediately took him to the hospital for medical care. The police investigated both Veronica and the babysitter, and the babysitter wrongly accused Veronica of being responsible for the accident.
Child Protective Services investigated the situation and found no evidence to press charges against Veronica. But due to the Secure Communities program, which is implemented in her home state of Texas, she was sent to a detention center by ICE anyway. After her family paid a $1,500 bond release, she began a long and arduous struggle to stop her deportation.
In desperation, Veronica hired an attorney to defend her case whom she later found out has had his license revoked twice. Although she felt he was not representing her case effectively, her immigration judge denied her the right to hire another attorney.
Veronica has lived since 2002 in San Antonio, Texas, where she is a valued member of the community, with strong ties in her church. She works hard as a waitress to provide a better life for her son, who has a speech delay and needs special treatment.
Veronica has no criminal history and represents no threat to her community or to this nation. Veronica has received an order of voluntary departure from ICE with a deadline of August 1. If Veronica is forced to leave the country, she will be separated from her whole family and will have to take Damian to a country he doesn't know, away from their family and community in Texas, or risk never seeing her son again.
Please sign and ask Norma Lacy, ICE public advocate in San Antonio, Franciso Venegas, deputy field office director, and Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, ICE public advocate, to grant deferred action and stop the deportation of Maria Veronica Ayala (A# A200595406).