Pregnant Queens Village mom freed from brink of deportation
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Alma Centeno Santiago’s mother, daughter, son and sister outside federal court in Manhattan on July 2. Eagle photo by Phineas Rueckert
By David Brand
A pregnant mother of two who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside Queens Family Court, detained in a New Jersey jail and scheduled to be deported at the end of June was instead freed on Friday and reunited with her family early this morning.
Alma Centeno Santiago, a Queens Village resident who moved to the United States from Guatemala in 2004, was released from a federal immigration jail and flown back to New York Friday night. She had been transferred from the Bergen County Detention Facility to a jail in Louisiana, where she was set to be deported last month.
Her attorneys from the New York Legal Assistance Group fought the deportation order, enabling Centeno Santiago to be released by the Department of Homeland Security. She reunited with her two children, ages 3 and 11, at JFK Airport early Saturday morning.
The Eagle has followed Centeno Santiago’s story and written a five-part series on her case. Telemundo first reported on her arrest and the severe stomach illness she developed inside the Bergen County jail, which was quarantined after at least six detainees were diagnosed with mumps.
Alma Centeno Santiago, with her two children. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Pacheco
“Alma’s case highlights how immigrants’ rights are too often violated. We argued that while in detention, Alma advocated for her health and that of her unborn child and, in retaliation, was placed into immediate deportation,” said Melissa Chua, associate director of NYLAG’s Immigrant Protection Unit.
“We are glad that Alma has been reunited with her family, and can now get the necessary medical care for herself and her unborn child while we help her seek that relief,” Chua added.
NYLAG Immigrant Protection Unit Director Jodi Ziesemer told the Eagle last month that it was unclear what impact Centeno Santiago’s stomach problems had on her fetus. A jail spokesperson said that staff take “all necessary precautions” to address detainees’ medical conditions.
ICE arrested Centeno Santiago in April outside Queens Family Court after she made an appearance to resolve a dispute with her ex-partner. An ICE spokesperson said Alma had skipped a previous deportation proceeding and that she had two decade-old arrests for disorderly conduct.
Chua said NYLAG argued Centeno Santiago was denied the chance to seek immigration relief that would enable her to remain in the United States. A federal immigration court granted a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent her immediate deportation in late June and to allow proceedings to continue. DHS agreed to release her Friday.
"The last few months without Alma have been overwhelmingly sad and scary,” said Jennifer Pacheco, a friend of Centeno Santiago who has served as spokesperson for the family. “We have lived the nightmare that every immigrant family fears.”
Pacheco told the Eagle last month that the family particularly worried about the mental health and wellbeing of her two children, who were both born in the United States. Her daughter Amy, 11, did not quite comprehend that her mother could be kicked out of the country, Pacheco said.
“Amy knows what’s going on, but she doesn’t really understand,” Pacheco said. ‘She keeps asking, ‘Why can’t they let you go?’”
“Her mom is the only person she has. Her father is no longer in the picture,” she added. “She said she doesn’t want to live because her mom is everything to her.”
Centeno Santiago’s family and friends had arrived at federal court in Manhattan on July 2 expecting to attend a deportation hearing, but the date was postponed until July 25.
“My sister is a good woman, a good, attentive mother, a good daughter and a good sister,” Centeno Santiago’s sister Brenda told the Eagle in Spanish. “We are hoping for her freedom, above all because of her pregnancy.”
Centeno Santiago is one of dozens of immigrants who have been arrested by ICE in and around courthouses in New York City and across the state in recent years. More than 200 immigrants were detained by ICE in and around courthouses statewide in 2018, according to a report by the Immigrant Defense Project
At least 33 people were arrested by ICE in and around Queens courthouses in 2018. Only Brooklyn, with 35, had more ICE courthouse arrests than Queens.
The New York State Office of Court Administration reported that six people have been arrested inside courthouses statewide this year so far. OCA issued a directive in April — just days after Centeno Santiago’s arrest — that prevents ICE agents from making arrests inside courthouses without a judicial warrant or judicial order.
The measure does not stop ICE from arresting people outside courthouses or on their way to and from court appearances, however. A bill, known as the Protect Our Courts Act, failed to pass in the state legislature would prevent ICE agents from targeting any individual on their way to and from court.
New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., Bronx County District Attorney Darcel Clark and three others DAs from across the state signed onto the letter earlier this month arguing that ICE’s presence near courts disrupts the legal justice system by discouraging victims and witnesses from coming to court. The prosecutors urged the state to pass the Protect Our Courts Act.
“ICE arrests at courthouses interfere with court proceedings, are a potential threat to public safety and instill fear in immigrant communities,” the letter states. “As District Attorneys, we are charged with administering justice in the state, and this issue significantly undermines that purpose. We request that the New York State legislature immediately act to address this crucial issue.”
A federal judge in Massachusetts issued an injunction last monthth preventing ICE “from civilly arresting parties, witnesses, and others attending Massachusetts courthouses on official business while they are going to, attending, or leaving the courthouses.”
The measure was the first time a judge has stopped ICE from making arrests across an entire state, the AP reported.
