Wrongly deported teen back in U.S.
- 12 years ago
A pregnant 15-year-old girl mistakenly deported to Colombia in a bizarre mix-up returns to the United States.
Dallas, Texas runaway Jakadrien Turner was deported in May to the South American country she had never seen, and whose language she did not speak, after she gave a false name and age when she was arrested for shoplifting in Houston.
Officials say jail staff followed procedure by fingerprinting a detainee they believed was an adult foreign national.
Police assumed she was a 21-year-old criminal from Colombia, and went ahead with her deportation.
Two months later, the girl from Texas who doesn't speak Spanish was issued a Colombian passport based on the information provided by U.S. officials.
Turner's family eventually located her through social media website Facebook.
Now, they're just happy she's home - and investigations into how this all happened are underway in both Colombia and the United States.
Travis Brecher, Reuters
Dallas, Texas runaway Jakadrien Turner was deported in May to the South American country she had never seen, and whose language she did not speak, after she gave a false name and age when she was arrested for shoplifting in Houston.
Officials say jail staff followed procedure by fingerprinting a detainee they believed was an adult foreign national.
Police assumed she was a 21-year-old criminal from Colombia, and went ahead with her deportation.
Two months later, the girl from Texas who doesn't speak Spanish was issued a Colombian passport based on the information provided by U.S. officials.
Turner's family eventually located her through social media website Facebook.
Now, they're just happy she's home - and investigations into how this all happened are underway in both Colombia and the United States.
Travis Brecher, Reuters