The girl, Emily Samantha Ruiz, is a U.S. citizen. But she, like many other children of undocumented immigrants, became caught in a web of complications for families with mixed legal statuses. On her way home from a trip to Guatemala with her grandfather on March 11, Emily was detained in Dulles International Airport when authorities stopped her grandfather on an illegal entry charge from more than a decade ago.
Authorities took her grandfather, a non-citizen on a valid work visa that allowed him to travel, into custody. But the young girl was detained in the airport, then sent back to Guatemala with her grandfather, citizenship notwithstanding.
Her family claims they were faced with a near-impossible choice by border officials: either have Emily sent to Guatemala or allow officials to put her in a juvenile facility in the United States, where she could be put in foster care or kept away from her parents.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is housed within of the Department of Homeland Security, denied the family's version of events, claiming they did offer the Ruiz family an opportunity to pick the girl up from authorities.
"CBP strives to reunite U.S. citizen children with their parents. If the parents choose not to take custody of their children, CBP works with other agencies to ensure the children's safety and well being, up to and including releasing them into the custody of other relatives," spokesman Michael Friel said in a statement. "In this case, the parents were offered the chance to pick up the child, but elected to have her return to Guatemala with her grandfather."
