SEARCY -- After more than seven years apart, Tatiana Jaco-Alvarez was reunited with her mother for about seven months before the 18-year-old was arrested Friday on allegations that she is an illegal alien.
Jaco-Alvarez's mother said in an interview Monday that she spent $9,000 for Jaco-Alvarez, then 17, and her younger sister to travel from their home in El Salvador to the United States in May 2016. She said she hoped to free them from a country where gangs run rampant and girls are frequently reported missing, raped and killed.
The sisters were processed through the federal government's program for unaccompanied migrant children and were released to Jaco-Alvarez's mother pending formal court proceedings. Jaco-Alvarez, whose sister was not arrested, attended her only court date -- her case was continued until March 2018 -- and has not been charged with a crime not related to immigration.
Her arrest Friday in Little Rock happened as immigration attorneys expressed confusion about a shift in enforcement policies under President Donald Trump. Jaco-Alvarez was detained "based on allegations that you are illegally in the United States," according to the English translation of a document provided by her mom.
[U.S. immigration: Data visualization of selected immigration statistics, U.S. border map]
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is not identifying Jaco-Alvarez's mother by name because she, too, is an illegal alien. Jaco-Alvarez's mother provided personal details about her daughter and the case, including immigration-related documents and a school report card, which would have otherwise been unavailable.
Attorneys involved in and observing the Jaco-Alvarez arrest said it was rare, if not unprecedented, for illegal aliens with pending court cases as so-called unaccompanied minor children to be detained if they were complying with court directives and had not committed a crime.
Other cases of unusual immigration-law enforcement before and after Trump's inauguration have been hard to find in Arkansas. Rita Sklar, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas, said she has not heard of other Arkansas-related cases.
Eric Henton, Jaco-Alvarez's attorney who is based in Memphis, said: "If there hasn't been a rash of these types of arrests, it just makes me wonder, why this girl? ... The motivation of detaining her is what's really troubling so many people."
A public affairs officer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said late Monday that he was not yet authorized to comment about Jaco-Alvarez's arrest.
Jaco-Alvarez is detained at the LaSalle Detention Center in Jena, La., a five-hour drive from the Searcy home she shares with her mom and a younger sister. Henton said he filed a motion for a bond hearing on Monday but that it could be at least a week before the hearing is scheduled.
Jaco-Alvarez's mother, 35, moved to the United States eight years ago and started a business. She pays income taxes, she said, but has not pursued lawful residential status in the United States because of the cost of hiring an attorney and obtaining legal status.
Instead, she said she sends between $500 to $600 per month to Jaco-Alvarez's grandmother, who had custody of the sisters before they left for the U.S. and who still has custody of Jaco-Alvarez's two younger brothers, 12 and 14.
"She wants to give them a better life," said Maria Cardena, a friend of Jaco-Alvarez's mother who helped translate for the Democrat-Gazette interview.
Jaco-Alvarez and her sister's arrival in the U.S. was preceded by a series of alarming incidents in El Salvador, according to their mother.
About 12 years ago, when her mother was pregnant with her fourth and final child, Jaco-Alvarez's father was killed with her uncle in what authorities told her mother was a traffic accident. The two men had been riding motorcycles and were hit by a trailer, although Jaco-Alvarez's mother said the two men did not own motorcycles.
About four years after that, Jaco-Alvarez's mother realized she needed to make a better life for her children and decided to go to the U.S. Upon the advice of a friend, she went to Searcy, eventually starting a business, which helps her send hundreds of dollars per month to El Salvador for her family. She left her four children -- two boys and two girls -- with her mother in Santa Ana.
About four years after coming to the U.S., Jaco-Alvarez's grandmother received a phone call in El Salvador from someone threatening to kidnap all four children. The family moved to another part of the country, then returned two years later to Santa Ana, where Jaco-Alvarez earned a high-school diploma from Colegio Cristiana Emanuel and began nursing school. Then two of her college classmates disappeared, her mother said.
That's when Jaco-Alvarez's mother sent for her two daughters.
Jaco-Alvarez arrived in the U.S. on May 15, 2016, along with her younger sister, who is now 16. The two spent three weeks at the Children's Village Shelter in New York before they were flown to Arkansas at Jaco-Alvarez's mother's expense.
Jaco-Alvarez applied to attend school at Arkansas State University-Beebe's campus in Searcy but was told her English was not strong enough to enroll, Cardena said. So she enrolled at Searcy High School.
Jaco-Alvarez's first nine-week report card, from October 2016, shows she achieved A's in algebra, physical science, Spanish II and English as a second language; B's in American history and physical education; and a C in English I.
It's not clear if Jaco-Alvarez would have graduated at the end of this year or required more school, her mom said. The primary concern as of this semester was improving her grades in English, her mom said.
"Obviously, this is something over which we have no control," Searcy Public Schools Superintendent Dianne Barrett said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with her, and we wish her the best."
Barrett said she was prohibited from providing more information about Jaco-Alvarez.
Jaco-Alvarez enjoys reading and playing soccer with her sister and friends, her mother said. She took a liking to Chinese food in Searcy and was working on getting a job.
Asked about what kind of future she wanted for her daughters, Jaco-Alvarez's mother said in Spanish: "For my children to study for a career."
Jaco-Alvarez's mom waited in the car Friday when Jaco-Alvarez, accompanied by Cardena's husband, went inside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Little Rock. The agency had summoned Jaco-Alvarez with a Jan. 12 letter that asked her to meet with a deportation officer for an "interview."
She was detained on arrival and allowed to call her attorney. Jaco-Alvarez was informed that her arrest was because of her age -- she turned 18 in July -- and because she was a "priority alien," Henton, her attorney said.
Jaco-Alvarez has not formally filed for asylum, as is common for unaccompanied migrant children, but informed her immigration judge at a recent hearing of her intent to do so, Henton said. Jaco-Alvarez's next court date was scheduled for March 2018, but Henton said he will submit the application before then.
Most migrants are given a year to file for asylum, and unaccompanied aliens usually aren't held to that deadline, Henton said.
Jaco-Alvarez spoke by phone with her mother for a few minutes at about 6 p.m. Monday. They didn't speak about her case, but about how she felt.
"Better," she said, according to Cardena.
Jaco-Alvarez's mom, who hasn't informed her sons their sister is detained, said while wiping tears from her eyes that she no longer plans to bring the teenagers to the U.S. because of her daughter's arrest.
Jaco-Alvarez's mother heard knocks on her door Monday afternoon. She walked from a chair in the living room to the window, pulled back the curtain and peered between blinds. It was a friend, carrying a list of books for them to read together.
Jaco-Alvarez's mother said she never used to look out the window before answering the door. That changed last week.
"I have worries," she said in Spanish.
A Section on 01/31/2017