USA. McAllen, TX. 2017. Laura's mom, Maria, with a picture of Laura.
Around midnight on June 8, 2009, Laura S. and three friends were stopped near Pharr, Tex. for a minor traffic infraction. The officer asked for immigration papers, but only Laura’s cousin was able to produce them. Laura spent the next six hours in custody, begging various immigration officials to let her stay. She repeatedly explained that her ex-boyfriend, Sergio H., lived in Mexico, he had previously been abusive toward her and he threatened to kill her if she ever returned to Mexico. Further, she mentioned that she had three young children -- all in the United States -- and one was scheduled to have surgery soon. Despite her pleas, she signed a “voluntary return” form, which allowed her to be sent back to Mexico without a deportation hearing. A few days after her return to Reynosa, Mexico, Sergio found and beat Laura, nearly ripping her ear off in the process. On June 14, 2009, Sergio beat and strangled Laura, and left her body in a burning car. A 2013 lawsuit brought by Laura's mother, Maria, on behalf of her three children details that fateful week in 2009. She alleged that four U.S. immigration officers — Ramiro Garza, Ruben Garcia and two unnamed defendants — violated Laura's 5th amendment right to due process by forcibly removing her to Mexico without access to legal counsel or a hearing before an immigration judge. Laura only signed the voluntary return document under coercion, she claimed.