Venezuelan kids in Florida schools facing legal peril

www.miami.com Posted on Mon, Jan. 27, 2003 BY ANDREA ELLIOTT aelliott@herald.com

The family fled Venezuela with a suitcase, certain the country's political crisis would pass by Christmas.

But from their Doral vacation home they watched daily as the chaos only deepened, and when the schools in Caracas shut down, they decided to stay.

Their children are among nearly 500 Venezuelans who enrolled in Broward and Miami-Dade County schools in January -- many with tourist visas -- a move that could endanger their legal status if they take steps to settle here permanently.

''It's a double life. We don't want to stay, but we don't want to go back,'' said the 35-year-mother, who asked not to be identified for fear of deportation. Her daughters are among more than 100 new Venezuelan students at the Eugenia B. Thomas Elementary School in Doral. ``I'm away from all the people who are fighting for us. We wish we could help them out. It's for the kids we are here, not for the adults.''

But by putting her children in a Florida school, the woman has violated immigration law, and now her family -- along with the hundreds of other Venezuelans enrolled in schools while on tourist visas -- faces the prospect of being deported.

CONFUSING GAP

Their predicament underscores a confusing gap between federal immigration law and school board policy: The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service forbids tourists to enroll in schools without first obtaining student visas, while public schools enroll students without asking about their immigration status.

As a policy, the INS does not go after foreign children improperly enrolled in schools because other investigations take priority, said John Shewairy, chief of staff of the INS district office in Florida. However, should these families 'come to the INS' attention'' they could face deportation, he said.

Otherwise, they will become undocumented once their tourist visas expire, usually within six months.

''People have to understand that they're breaking the law,'' Shewairy said. ``If you come in on a tourist visa and do anything here that shows you are intending to establish residency in the U.S., that's a violation of your status.''

Many schools in Venezuelan enclaves such as Doral and Weston have absorbed the influx of students with no questions asked, leading some parents -- like the woman who fled with a suitcase -- to believe they are doing nothing wrong.

''It's a very confusing area, because on the one hand the child will be welcomed to all schools, but in fact he's jeopardizing his immigration status,'' said Michael Bander, an immigration attorney. ``These are very difficult choices that families have to make.''

Lorena Landa, whose family landed in Weston with relatives over Christmas, was ready to enroll her sons in Indian Trace Elementary when her sister made a precautionary call to an immigration attorney.

ENROLLMENT ILLEGAL

''He told me if I am not a resident of Weston, I cannot put them in a public school,'' she said. The attorney told her that putting the boys in a private school was also illegal, but he would have a better case before the INS because she was paying for educational services.

''I don't want to do anything out of the law,'' she said. Instead, she takes her 10-year-old son to the library to keep him learning.

Among the Venezuelan children enrolled in schools this month alone: roughly 130 children in Miami-Dade County public schools, more than 220 in Broward County public schools, and more than 120 in private schools -- primarily Jewish day schools.

''All we're asking is that they let Venezuelan children finish the school year,'' said Maria Alejandra Leone, a Weston activist. ``We've invested a lot of money here over the years and we find the United State's treatment of us unfair.''

Calls from Caracas began pouring in to the Tauber School in Aventura on Dec. 20 -- averaging 50 a day along with local calls from newly arrived Venezuelans.

''I had to have a translator for a while,'' said Alix Harper-Rosenberg, the director of admissions for the private Jewish day school. More than 250 families have toured the school, and 26 new Venezuelan students had enrolled by last week.

Every Monday, about 50 new families line up in the admissions office of the Eugenia B. Thomas school in Doral, where more than 80 Venezuelan parents attended a Parent Teachers Association meeting Thursday for new families.

''They're here, but mentally they're not here,'' principal Lucille Verson said. ``They have no idea what's going to happen. My priority is to provide a stable environment for the children.''

Many private schools are ensuring that enrolling students have legal immigration status, and others are enrolling students on tourist visas because they feel an obligation to help families from countries in crisis, several administrators said.

10 PLACES SET

The Country Day School in Miami Shores created 10 places for Venezuelans but had admitted only one as of late last week.

''We do not want to jeopardize the school's position,'' one administrator said. ``Unless they can get the appropriate visa, we cannot enroll them in school.''

Venezuelans are required to obtain tourist visas before traveling to the United States, a task made harder when the U.S. Embassy in Caracas closed Jan. 20. Some families are traveling to Mexico and other countries to apply for work or student visas, while others are entering on tourist visas and hoping for the best.

An INS official who asked not to be named said the U.S. government could decrease the number of tourist visas given to Venezuelans as a result of the recent influx.

For the Doral mother, the hardest part is hearing her 8-year-old daughter explain why the family cannot return to Caracas: ``Not until the shooting stops.''

The mother's eyes filled with tears.

Behind her, a parade of cars bearing Venezuelan flags passed by, picking up children from the school.

``It makes me cry, it's so terrible to hear.''