Immigration and Customs Enforcement has denied a stay of deportation for a Stamford mother of two.
Federal agents told Miriam Martinez-Lemus to board a plane for Guatemala Monday at 3:00 pm. She didn't hide from ICE agents, but she did not get on a plane either.
Her 12-year-old daughter Brianna has Type 1 diabetes -- a complex, life-threatening condition that requires constant monitoring. Her attorney, Glenn Formica, said Martinez, who wears an electronic ankle bracelet, will be home taking care of her daughter.
"If ICE wants to come and get her they know exactly where she is," Formica said.
A tearful Martinez told reporters during a press conference in New Haven that she can’t leave her daughter here and she can’t take her to Guatemala.
"They don’t have medicine for my daughter in Guatemala," Martinez-Lemus said. "She has everything here."
Governor Dannel Malloy said he believes it’s important to keep the girl’s parents together to care for her as a team.
"If any situation cries out for additional understanding and quite frankly expression of humanity and charity, this one does," Malloy told reporters. "I plead with ICE to allow for sufficient time for other avenues to be explored."
Martinez-Lemus’s two daughters are both American citizens and attend public school in Stamford. Their mother fled Guatemala 25 years ago following political unrest and civil war in the country.
