Immigrant arrested in widely seen video is released for now
SAN DIEGO — A Mexican woman in the U.S. illegally who was dragged away from her daughters by authorities in a widely viewed video was being released on her own recognizance Tuesday by an immigration judge in Southern California.
Judge Zsa Zsa Depaolo said Perla Morales Luna, 36, was not a danger to society or a flight risk and should be released to her family. She told Morales Luna at a hearing at a detention centre that her case would be sent to a U.S. immigration judge in downtown San Diego and warned her she could be arrested again if she did not make her court appearances.
Video shows the mother of three being pulled away from her anguished daughters — who are U.S. citizens — earlier this month by Border Patrol agents. Viewers hear uncontrollable crying as she is being driven away.
The government said Morales Luna was involved in human trafficking, which she has denied. She has been charged only with being in the country illegally.