![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Though it was surrounded by single-family homes, the motel had been an eyesore and was frequented by prostitutes and drug users. In the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, authorities had taken over a 1950s-style motel. But then he saw where they were being kept. Holguín wasn’t sure it was a good idea to challenge a policy intended to protect minors. Civil rights attorneys were starting to believe the policy’s real purpose was to use the kids as bait. The problem was that parents without legal status, like the girl’s mother, would be arrested and deported if they came for their children. What was unusual was the caller’s concern: The Immigration and Naturalization Service (a precursor to today’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement) wouldn’t release the girl to anyone but a parent or guardian, a policy created for children’s safety. in droves to escape their country’s brutal civil war. And it was 1984, a time when migrants from El Salvador, like this 15-year-old girl, were coming to the U.S. Holguín represented such people often as an attorney at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, a public interest firm in Los Angeles. A well-known actor in Hollywood called seeking help for his housekeeper's daughter after immigration authorities arrested and detained the girl for being in the country illegally. Photo Illustration by Brenan Sharp and Tony AvelarĪt first, Carlos Holguín was skeptical. ![]()
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