Mexican Wife And Mother Of U.S. Citizens Won't Be Deported By ICE

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- She married an American citizen and her children are citizens. But Veronica Castro was ordered to an immigration hearing not knowing if she would be able to stay, or be sent back to Mexico.

Alex DeMetrick reports, what were once routine hearings don't feel routing anymore.

Outside the federal building in Baltimore, supporters of Veronica Castro gathered for her appearance at a hearing by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE for short.

"My husband and children are all U.S. citizens," Castro said via a translator. But she is not. Her husband, an Army veteran left disabled by his service, and her four children, depend on her.

"One of her children has cerebral palsy and she takes care of her four children," says Suzanne Martin, a supporter. "It's a full time job taking care of them."

Because of that, if Castro were deported, her American husband and children would also be forced to go to Mexico.

Under an order of supervision for years, Veronica has routinely come to ICE hearings before. But this is the first time she went fearing she would be deported back to Mexico, given the tough stance on immigration by the Trump administration.

"It hurts America," says another support, David Eberhardt. "It makes us look bad all over the world, this kind of treatment."

The hearing did not last long, less than an hour.

"We are very grateful today that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has decided to exercise their discretion and grant a further year," says Josh Doherty, Castro's lawyer.

That means ICE will revisit her status again next year.

For her family, "it's a wonderful day, it's beautiful," her husband says.

Undocumented immigrants placed under orders of supervision can have their status reviewed at any time by ICE hearings officers.

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