Juan Rodela had been imprisoned in the Stewart Immigration Detention Center in Georgia and was on his third lawyer when a change in his defense strategy resulted in his surprising liberation.
The Mexican immigrant was arrested in November 2012 for not showing his license after a traffic violation in Coweta County, where he resides. His children, ages 12, 9, and 3, were devastated, especially his 9-year-old boy.
My son “ended up having moments in which he wanted to kill himself. He didn’t want to live anymore, and when they asked him why, he said because I wasn’t there, and that I might not be coming back,” remembered Rodela.
However, when Rodela’s hopes for being reunited with his family were disappearing, a new defense strategy led to the reunion they had longed for.
His attorney, Michael Urbina, recommended one of the resources that can be used in defense against deportation: a psychological evaluation to demonstrate “exceptional and extremely unusual harship” of family members that are United States citizens.
“The law allows for pardon for a person who is going to be deported, if the separation of a husband and wife or of a father and his children is going to be extremely cruel for the person who stays in the country,” explained Alonso Romero, a psychotherapist who frequently evaluates families of immigrants in the deportation process.
http://www.reportingonhealth.org/mexican-father-released-prison-based-psychological-evidence
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