A 64-year-old grandmother who is in the U.S. illegally could be sent back to her home country because she took the wrong exit on her way home from work.
Family members of Ana Camero say she is being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Centre more than a month after taking a wrong turn and ending up at the entrance to a U.S. Marines station in San Diego.
Coming home from her job as a cook at a restaurant in La Jolla on 7 April, Camero pulled over to get gas. After that, she accidentally drove into the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. There, she was asked to show proper identification, and when she couldn’t, officials say she was called by immigration officers.
Camero has lived in the US for over 20 years. Her family says she was born in Mexico and doesn’t have a California driver’s license or any other form of ID. A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated that Camero is being held and is being prepared to be sent back to Mexico.
Hernández said that her mother has diabetes and a vascular problem, but that she is not getting any medical care or medicine while she is in jail.
“Her foot has already started to swell again because of poor circulation—something that could get worse if not treated,” Hernández wrote in a GoFundMe effort to get money to hire an immigration lawyer.
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A representative for the Marine Corps Recruit Depot said in a statement that anyone trying to enter a federal base without permission must show a valid form of government identification.
Megan Hernández, her daughter, told Telemundo 20 news that it was just a wrong turn.
“When a person can’t or won’t show the required form of identification, the federal government is notified. This includes U.S. customs and border patrol.” “This is true even if the person says the entry was made by mistake,” the statement said. “As a federal installation, we are mandated to uphold all federal statutes [or laws].”
The family of Camero said that the Marine Corps Recruit Depot called the U.S. Border Patrol because Camero couldn’t show a legal form of identification.
A Marine Corps representative called Hernández and told her that her mother was being held. The spokesperson also said that her mother’s car was at the base.
Hernández told the Mercury News that she saw the Border Patrol cars come while she was waiting outside the base for more information.
Camero had a lawyer with him when he went to court recently at the Otay Mesa Detention Centre. Her family says she plans to fight the order to remove her.