General legal information furnished as a service of Fort Lauderdale / West Palm Beach family law attorney Janet Langjahr
An immigrant who reportedly overstayed her visa was arrested here in Florida - the day before she and the father of her baby were to finalize an agreement on paternity, custody and child support for their baby.
The woman had allegedly been working to support her baby, using someone else’s social security number.
It turns out that the father’s attorney previously represented the immigration agent, who was instrumental in the mother’s arrest, in his own divorce.
And the father reportedly went around threatening the baby’s mother with deportation if she didn’t reconcile with him. In fact, the local police cited him for trespassing at the baby’s grandmother’s home, where he allegedly made the same threats of deportation.
The father is reportedly on probation for drug charges.
The woman’s attorneys believe that the common attorney link between the immigration agent and the baby’s father is more than coincidence, and may bear on the legality of the case against her and, therefore, her defense.
The judge in the case ordered the sheriff’s office to disclose the identity of law enforcement’s informant.
But the sheriff’s office flat out refuses to comply with the court’s order - and makes no bones about it.
Perhaps there is something to the defense’s suggestions that this woman, just one of many local immigrants allegedly improperly using another’s social security number to work, was singled out for unequal treatment under the law because of the child custody and support case, and the father’s attorney’s presumed access to the immigration agent who had reportedly been his client.
Read more in this Treasure Coast Palm article: Indian River County Sheriff’s Office refuses to identify informant.
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