14-year old MISTAKINGLY deported

[Tim Cornelis]

A 14-year old girl from Dallas, who does not speak a single word of Spanish, was deported to Colombia! The fuck?


Jakadrien Turner: Teen Mistakenly Deported to Colombia

Jakadrien Turner: 14-Year-Old Deported Due to Slipshod Work by ICE

When Jakadrien Turner of Dallas, Texas ran away from home in 2010 at age 14, she ended up in Houston. She was arrested for theft, and gave the Houston police a fake name. However, the name she gave belonged to a 22-year-old illegal immigrant from Colombia.

So, without doing anything to verify Jakadrien Turner's identity, she was handed over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The ICE also did nothing to verify Jakadrien Turner's identity, despite the fact that she was an African-American girl who spoke no Spanish, as opposed to a 22-year-old Colombian.

The ICE fingerprinted Jakadrien Turner, but did not do anything with the prints, such as check them against their records to make sure they had the right person. Jakadrien Turner was then deported to Colombia, where she was simply given a work permit and sent on her way.

Lorene Turner, Jakadrien's grandmother, figured out what had happened after tracking her granddaughter down on Facebook (the Houston police and the ICE remained blissfully unaware of their spectacular screw-up), and she managed to get in touch with the US embassy.

Then it was the US embassy's turn to mess things up. Rather than send a staffer to pick up the girl who was in the country illegally due to American errors, the US embassy sent the police, who promptly took Jakadrien into custody.

Jakadrien Turner, now 15, is currently in a Colombian "detention facility". According to the Dallas Morning News, Jakadrien is also pregnant.
"ICE takes these allegations very seriously," said ICE Director of Public Affairs Brian Hale. " At the direction of [the Department of Homeland Security], ICE is fully and immediately investigating this matter in order to expeditiously determine the facts of this case."

Source: wfaa.com

Surely There's More to the Jakadrien Turner Story

We're not letting the ICE off the hook on this one (wow, what a breathtakingly stupid mistake), but how regular was Jakadrien's Facebook access? Did she actively contact anyone else from Houston: friends, relatives? One would think that a "WTF I'm in Colombia?!" status update would get some sort of attention.

Also, did the Houston police tell Jakadrien that the ICE was getting involved? The way the story plays out, the answer seems to be "no": presumably she'd have divulged her real name if threatened with deportation.

Regarding the fake name, was it randomly chosen, or someone that Jakadrien Turner had met, or maybe a friend of a friend?

According to Lorene Turner, Jakadrien ran away from home because she was distraught over her parents' divorce and the death of her grandfather. However, one gets the impression from her Facebook updates that there's a bit more to the story, including a boyfriend.

http://www.nowpublic.com/strange/jakadrien-turner-teen-mistakenly-deported-colombia-2876900.html

more:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/texas-runaway-found-colombia-mistakenly-deported-tv-station-reports-article-1.1001207

[Os Cangaceiros]

If I was told that I was going to be deported to south america, I'd probably change my story regarding my fake name real quick...

[Obs]

If I was told that I was going to be deported to south america, I'd probably change my story regarding my fake name real quick...
Right, because the ICE cares what you say/do/are after you've given them an excuse to deport you.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Believe it or not they're usually not in the business of deporting black teenagers who can't speak Spanish to Colombia, lol.

[Sasha]

Here they are in the business of locking up dutcher than dutch, flawlessly dutch speaking activists who can sing the national anthem backwards for months on a illegal status just because they excercice their constitutional right not to support their own prosecution.
Just saying...

[ColonelCossack]

I feel so guilty that this made me laugh. In my defence, it's because of the ridiculous and farcical nature of the system.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Here they are in the business of locking up dutcher than dutch, flawlessly dutch speaking activists who can sing the national anthem backwards for months on a illegal status just because they excercice their constitutional right not to support their own prosecution.
Just saying...

I don't know about Dutch justice system, so I'm not sure what you're refering to.

I used to live in a border state and unfortunately directly experienced the criminal justice system there, so I had a little indirect contact with ICE. They're a pretty feared organization by a lot of people, obviously. This story is bizarre, though, and I'm not sure if they're just leaving out key pieces of info or what...one really obvious question is why she used that particular name, and what relation (if any, but I imagine there might have been some) she had with the ACTUAL Colombian immigrant who's name she used. Unless she just said "oh, my name is Maria de los Santos" and the authorities just said, oh, you must be that 22 year old Colombian we've been looking so long for! Close the file on that one!