Teenager Girl Deported by "Mistake"

She's a dummy. The better ending to this story would be if she comes back and is deported to Columbia..... since she is a 'citizen' there. BWAH!

i live in the dfw area, where this girl is from... this has been all over the news for several days. her family and attorney have made VERY clear that they are suing the gov't for gazillions asap. i think the "little girl" should be prosecuted criminally for what she did, and her parents should get NOTHING. this is all of the girl's doing. and why were they so quick to put her back with her family, who were apparently so awful that she RAN AWAY to COLUMBIA???????

also, @Pamela+2 - the little girl IS home, they aren't "looking into the matter", she is already home in dallas...

I have been following this story and think that we, the media reading public - are missing some back story. She ran away from home in November 2010 and was arrested in Houston in April 2011. She gave police a fake name and stated that she was a 21 year old undocumented Colombian W.. Ultimately the Colombian consulate interviewed her and granted her citizenship, a passport, a place to live and a job !!!! Once in Columbia she posted on Facebook under yet another assumed name.

So, we are missing a big piece of this story - like the fact that she was a voluntary run away - and why. The fact that she, at any time, in the ICE process could have given her real name and returned home - or at least not been sent to Colombia.

Heck, maybe my sister, son and I should leave our IDs at home and go to Walmart tonight. With BofA breathing down my neck, the never ending recession, and our constant struggling to keep our heads above water, a Colombian citizenship with housing, employment and all sounds pretty good right now.

It's tragic that there is a lack of common sense here. No matter what lies the girl told the authorities still had the responsibility of verifying her identity. Cheryl, if this girl were white you and some others here would have a different perspective and opinion about what happened to her. Very sad that people who think they are so intelligent and believe they are so worldly, probably don't venture further than a 10-15 mile radius. Try venturing outside your bubbles for once and learn something about others. Hopefully you all will realize that there are layers in every life story and hopefully you all will gain the ability to have compassion for others whose lifestyles are different than your own.

Frankly, she was real stupid about the whole thing....

First... she ran away... then when she was picked up, she gave a fake name... who knows? She may have even had a fake ID....

Once she realized she was being deported, she should have tried to talk to someone about it... we don't know the situation there, though.

It wasn't a mistake on ICE's part..... the name she gave was for someone from Colombia..... they did what they are supposed to do at that point.

She is an idiot..

Again, if the Police ask what is your name?.. Tell them the truth.. Enough said..

People are upset that her fingerprints were not checked.. But she was a juvenile and did not have any on file..

She put herself in this situation.

WOW! I read part of the article and I had no idea of all this information. If you lie, it's not a mistake, just plain stupid on her part. If her parents sue, I hope they get 'nothing'!

I say people need to read the story before they say what they think.

The facts are she was a runaway, and told the Houston police upon arrest for suspicion of misdemeanor theft, that she was an illegal immigrant named Tika Lanay Cortez, a Colombian W. born in 1990, an identity that immigration officials now say was fabricated".....

Here's a link:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2012/01/texas-g...

ETA: Anyone can "sue" anyone for anything they want....it doesn't mean they would win.

She probably thinks she got her 15 minutes of "fame" now.
Idiot.

idk cheryl. Its fishy to me. Yes she lied and supposedly made up the name but duh! Homeland security couldn't figure it out or what to do with her? Its just weird. My husband is from Mexico and we've dealt with immigration and homeland security and let's just say they were thorough. The little girl should of been returned by now in my opinion.

I don't understand how they didn't figure out that she was lying about her name. I mean didn't they run her prints? How many people could have had that same name? My guess is a thousand at least. I mean really I know of a baby that was denied the ability to board a plane because his name was on the no fly list, because someone with his name was on it, how screwed up is that??
Anyway I don't get how she was able to slip through. How did they not notice she didn't know spanish???

ETA : you don't have to have commited a crime to have your prints on file. I have copies of both of my kids finger prints on their identikid cards

Sure she gave a false name... but they never attempted to verify her identity and that seems extremely wrong to me. She also was obviously a black american, didn't speak espanol, and was much younger than the girl's name she gave.

I don't know why you'd want to defend such a heinous mistake. Also, instead of FIXING their mistake and bringing her home to her family, they are 'looking into the matter' - she is a MINOR and I'm sure her family really would like her back home.

Hmm, seems to be be one of those crazy, media hyped stories which feeds on itself (the more people talk/comment, the crazier it gets.)
Let's wait at least a month or so and see where it goes (as in, let's get all the facts out on the table, are the parents crazy? is she? did law enforcement totally drop the ball? who knows?!) then we can have a more reasonable dialogue :)

This girl must be a really good liar for them to not question who she was. But I figure if she kept giving the same story then why would they keep questioning her. I don't think she even told them her real age and if nothing comes up in a search then they must have assumed she was an adult.

She was a runaway and no one was looking for her and it sounds like she didn't want to go home. I would think at some point they told her they were going to deport her to Columbia, she could have spoken up then.

I would hope at this point they will look into why she ran away and why she wanted to stay away. Maybe there is something going on in the home with her family.

I think our federal government is way too powerful and out of control.

Then again, with NDAA we might just see people begin to "disappear" should they be suspected, (by whom might I ask?), not even adjudicated, of supporting terrorists.

I wonder whatever happened to Due Process, the burden of proof, the 5th Amendment, the 4th Amendment and the idea that you're innocent until proven guilty?

WHAT ARE THE LIMITS ON OUR GOVERNMENT ANYMORE?

:(

PS: From the following article: "Stephen Yale-Loehr, who teaches immigration law at Cornell Law School, said hundreds of U.S. citizens are wrongfully detained or deported each year.

"There are a variety of legitimate reasons why somebody might not appear to be a U.S. citizen at first glance." he said. "It's the duty of the U.S. federal immigration agency to make sure that we do not detain and deport U.S. citizens erroneously. And this, unfortunately happened in this case."

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articles/reunites-135577...

PPS: That girl could have been mentally ill, or suffering from developmental delay, and ushered through a mass deportation hearing with little idea of what was going on. This was SHAMEFUL that our government did this to a CHILD with so little proof of who she was or where she was from. Shouldn't we err on the side of caution? Good grief I can't believe how many people support this. She was a CHILD FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!

I don't think the family should get a dime. The girl lied, stole and who knows what else. Did the agents make a mistake in not thoroughly checking out her identity? Yes but I'm sure they have their hands full with all the budget cuts etc. When we can't provide the man power to help secure our borders, mistakes are going to be made. Besides, like Cheryl said, the girl didn't speak up and ask for help once she realized she was being deported to another country. She obviously wanted to run from her family for some reason. She needs to be held accountable for her actions and the only thing the family may need is some counseling on how to be a better supporting family so their children may not wish to run away.

As far as this being a racial issue, why is that always played when something like this happens? Cheryl was just saying that she needs to be held accountable not because she is black but because of the crimes she committed and for the money she cost the taxpayers. Not everything has to do with race. I'm so sick of that card being used. Give it a rest.

Updated

I don't think the family should get a dime. The girl lied, stole and who knows what else. Did the agents make a mistake in not thoroughly checking out her identity? Yes but I'm sure they have their hands full with all the budget cuts etc. When we can't provide the man power to help secure our borders, mistakes are going to be made. Besides, like Cheryl said, the girl didn't speak up and ask for help once she realized she was being deported to another country. She obviously wanted to run from her family for some reason. She needs to be held accountable for her actions and the only thing the family may need is some counseling on how to be a better supporting family so their children may not wish to run away.

As far as this being a racial issue, why is that always played when something like this happens? Cheryl was just saying that she needs to be held accountable not because she is black but because of the crimes she committed and for the money she cost the taxpayers. Not everything has to do with race. I'm so sick of that card being used. Give it a rest.

My only concern/question is about fingerprints. If the W. she was impersonating had a record, wouldn't the fingerprints be different? Even if I admit to being someone I'm not, wouldn't I still get fingerprinted? Maybe I'm off-base...

This is what's wrong with our country. People don't believe they, or anyone else, should be held accountable for their CHOICES. My 8 & 9 year olds know it is wrong to lie and steal. She is 16. She chose to run away, she chose to steal, she chose to give the police a false name, she chose to keep silent during her deportation hearings, she chose to lie to the Columbian government, she chose to accept their offer of employment/housing/citizenship. Oh, and she didn't want to come back home, her grandmother tracked her down on facebook and contacted the Columbian authorities.

Of course now that she's back home and has to face her family none of it is her fault! Everyone else should have been looking out for her! Everyone else should have known she was a lying stealing cheating child and protected her! I'm sure this wasn't the first time this child had made poor choices, just as I'm sure she wasn't held accountable for those choices either. Maybe, just maybe, if at some point in her life someone had made her accountable for the choices she made she wouldn't have been in this situation to begin with. 16 is old enough to understand what she was doing was wrong. She should be prosecuted for any crimes committed during her little adventure on the taxpayers dollar. Makes me sick that our tax dollars are going to have to be spent defending against a lawsuit from this girl and her family.

Hi, Cheryl:

There are always consequences for lies and deceit, some good, some bad.

What say you?
D.

Cupcake, I am black and I wish the courts arrest this young W.. She is not a little girl.