Teenage Refugee Wins Key Immigration Battle On Christmas Eve

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA —A Guatemalan immigrant teenager who now lives in Laguna Niguel with extended family won a critical legal battle to remain in the United States, according to court records. The state's 4th District Court of Appeal handed down a ruling Christmas Eve regarding the case of "O.C.," a 14-year-old Guatemalan refugee who lives with her aunt and cousins, and who requested a special immigrant status for minors, be declared dependent in a juvenile court domestically.

The girl and her attorneys asked Orange County Superior Court Judge David L. Belz in probate court for the immigrant status but was denied. The three-justice panel concluded that Belz did not cite state law and failed to check a box on a form showing the girl cannot go back to her mother, who has died.

There has been a significant influx of these types of requests over the past few years, one of the girl's attorneys, Jessica Weisel, said.

"It's a very unusual proceeding that trial courts don't see very often," Weisel said. "When we tried to submit amended findings (of the client's status), it appeared the court just refused to accept them."

It is not clear if the request to give an amended petition a review even made it to the judge, Weisel said.

The attorneys for the girl plan to ask the justices to publish their opinion, so it will establish precedence in California. There have been similar rulings by appellate justices and the state supreme court, "But this is the first to really go into detail," Weisel said.

The girl was 12 when her mother died, the justices said in the ruling.

"O.C.'s father became ill and depressed, and failed to provide O.C. with the care she needed," the justices said.

The girl and her cousins left Guatemala and passed through Mexico until they reached the U.S., where they were detained. They were released to O.C.'s aunt, Blanca Odilia Carrillo Gallardo, the justices wrote.

Gallardo emigrated to the U.S. in about 2008 and would send money to O.C.'s mother to help care for her children. O.C. has lived with Gallardo since September of last year.

"Gallardo provides O.C. with everything she needs and treats her like a daughter," the justices wrote in the opinion. "O.C.'s father does not send any money from Guatemala for her expenses. O.C. has no one in Guatemala to care for her."

The justices also concluded that gangs where she lived in Guatemala "assault and steal from community members" and "the police are unable to control the gang members. Federal travel advisories support O.C.'s fear that gang members will hurt her if she returns to Guatemala."

Gallardo was appointed the girl's guardian, and her petition for special immigration status was approved earlier this year. Still, when her attorneys submitted a form, they were told they "could not be processed because they did not match the findings in the probate court's minute order or the language of the petition," the justices wrote.

So the girl's attorneys filed a revision that cited state law, but the probate court cited only federal law, not the state's law.

The attorneys argued the probate court must consider state law, but a "probate clerk rejected the proposed amended findings," according to the justices.

Federal law allows for undocumented children a way to gain lawful permanent residency and citizenship through a "hybrid" procedure that draws on a collaboration of state and federal agencies, the justices wrote.

The state courts are allowed to become part of the immigration process for some dependents or minors who cannot be reunited with a parent.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig, contributed to this report.