Texas Dad Works Hard to Reunite Family in the US After Wife Misses Immigration Hearing for Emergency C-Section

HOUSTON, Texas — A Houston father is currently fighting to reunite with his wife and children in the United States, rather than enjoying the preparations for Christmas with his newborns.

Federico Arellano, a U.S.-born citizen, was taken aback when he discovered that his wife, Christina Salazar, along with her four children, had been abruptly deported. According to the family’s attorney, they are collaborating with Congressman Al Green’s office to address the situation.

This is an unprecedented situation, as stated by their attorney, Silvia Mintz. Mintz emphasized that Salazar possesses a clean criminal record, is married to an American citizen, and their newborns were born in the United States.

“The holidays are coming up, and he thought he was going to have his family together. A great Christmas with the two newborns has turned out to be a tragedy,” Mintz said.

Mintz said the situation didn’t start out that way.

Salazar gave birth to twins three months ago.

The joy turned into fear because the twins came early, which caused Salazar to miss an immigration hearing.

“On Oct. 9, Christina didn’t show up at her immigration hearing, and the judge didn’t know that Christina didn’t show up because of circumstances beyond her control,” Mintz explained.

Weeks later, the attorney said that Salazar was told to go to the ICE office.

“When she shows up with the birth certificates, and her two baby twins, who are newborns, and the 2-year-old and the 7-year-old, they get detained,” Mintz said.

The attorney said despite the babies needing medical attention, it didn’t stop what happened next.

Meanwhile, according to a statement from an ICE spokesperson, “[Christina] and her husband mutually agreed to have their twin U.S. citizen children accompany her to Mexico.”

“Christina and her four children were removed with no clothes, with no extra formula, with no money,” Mintz said.

The attorney said she’d never seen anything like this before, and she fears it could become more common as a new presidential administration takes over next month.

Even more alarming to her is that her children, some of who are U.S. citizens, would also be sent to Reynosa, Mexico.

“I don’t have any family there,” Salazar told ABC News (in Spanish). “I felt I was in a lot of danger because if they see you alone with four children, imagine. It was very difficult for me. I didn’t sleep or eat while I was there because of how worried I was.”

According to Mintz, Salazar ended up in one of the most dangerous Mexican border towns because of a miscommunication.

“This is the preamble as to what we can expect if the president-elect actually fulfills his promises of mass deportations where mixed-status families are going to suffer a lot,” Mintz explained.

Salazar and her four children are with family and have now made it to Michoacan, where one of her newborn daughters is being treated with oxygen because of complications from premature birth.

An ICE spokesperson sent ABC13 the following statement:

“Cristina Geraldyn Salazar-Hinojosa, a 23-year-old Mexican national, illegally entered the United States June 28 near the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, and was immediately apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol. Salazar-Hinojosa was released June 29 and enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention Program July 23, pending disposition of her immigration proceedings. This included being placed on pre-order reporting conditions to include program orientation, weekly electronic check-in, office visits every four weeks and Intensive Supervision Appearance Program home visits every eight weeks. Salazar-Hinojosa violated the conditions of her Alternatives to Detention agreement between Nov. 22 and Dec. 6, with most violations involving disabling location services and verifying the mapping application to show her location. Salazar-Hinojosa failed to report to a scheduled immigration hearing Oct. 9; the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review did not excuse her absence, and she did not file a Motion to Reopen. Salazar-Hinojosa was ordered removed in absentia by an EOIR immigration judge.

Salazar-Hinojosa agreed to meet with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations officers Dec. 10, at which point she was taken into custody along with her two Mexican children to be deported. She and her husband mutually agreed to have their twin U.S. citizen children accompany her to Mexico. ERO officers worked with the ICE Juvenile & Family Management Transportation & Compliance Unit to carry out the judge’s order and Salazar-Hinojosa and her accompanying children were removed to Mexico Dec. 11.”