US Deports Natural-Born 14 Year Old Runaway To Columbia

By | January 6, 2012

Jakadrien Turner was born in the United States.  She is a United States Citizen. She speaks is African-American and speaks no Spanish.  Yet when she was arrested last year in Houston for shoplifiting, six month after the 14 year old ran away from her home in Dallas, police decided she was a 22 year old illegal immigrant from Columbia and turned over to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement(ICE).  It seems she had the misfortune of giving a fake name which found a match in their database.  One would think that it would be simple to determine that a 14 year old African-American girl with no knowledge of Spanish was not a 22 year old Columbian national. After all, ICE tells us

ICE officials also noted there have been instances where ICE has seen cases of individuals providing inaccurate information regarding who they are and their immigration status for ulterior motives.

A strange way to say that people lie to ICE.  That should be obvious. And, one would think, better at detecting falsehoods. It’s certainly not a defense for deporting a 14 year old girl.  Meanwhile, as her family awaits her return, Ms. Turner sits in a Columbian prison, apparently pregnant, and waiting for Columbian authorities to agree to her release back to the United States.