Custody involving U.S.-born son in Long Beach complicates deportation of illegal immigrant
The case is a clash between rulings by a California family court judge and a federal immigration court. Such cases may grow.
On Friday nights, Michael Campo throws his clothes and homework into his backpack and waits at his mom's Long Beach apartment for the phone to ring. When it does, 10-year-old Michael runs downstairs and jumps into his dad's car.
Thus begins the weekly ritual familiar to millions of American children in split families who bounce back and forth between mother and father.
But Michael's situation has an added wrinkle that threatens to derail the custody agreement and his weekends with Dad: Carlos Alvarado is an illegal immigrant involved in deportation proceedings.
Alvarado's case raises complex questions that will increasingly face both state and federal judges: What happens when immigration law and family law conflict? When a parent is here illegally, does a federal deportation order automatically trump a state custody order? Should child custody issues be considered in immigration cases?
A Los Angeles immigration judge ruled that Alvarado could stay in the country, determining that he wouldn't be able to continue his family court-ordered visitation and child support payments if deported.
Because Alvarado shares custody of his U.S.-citizen son with the boy's mother, the judge wrote, he doesn't have the option of taking the child home to Mexico.
A higher court overruled that decision and sent the case back to the judge. Alvarado is scheduled to return to immigration court this summer.
"I could lose everything, and above all, the right to be with my son," said Alvarado, 36, who lives in Lakewood.
The Executive Office of Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts nationwide, said it does not track cases involving split families.
Alvarado's attorney, Alan Diamante, said there are no published court decisions for immigration judges to follow when immigration and family law intersect.
"They definitely need to give guidance on these cases," he said.
Former Los Angeles immigration judge Bruce J. Einhorn said the state family court and the federal immigration court are completely different systems, run by two different governments.
"What you really have is an occasional train wreck waiting to happen," he said. "You have two systems speeding along and, when they meet, it's usually a head-on collision."
A custody fight
Carlos Alvarado sneaked across the Mexican border in 1991. He and Marla Campo met about five years later and she gave birth to Michael in October 1997. After a few years, the couple separated.
