Mississippi takes child from non-English speaking mother

Via Radical Doula, the story of an immigrant mother in Mississippi whose baby was taken away. RaceWire reports

In Pascagoula, Mississippi, in November 2008, Cirila Baltazar Cruz gave birth to a baby girl. Soon after, her daughter was taken away from her because she could not communicate with the hospital attendants.

Far away from her native Oaxaca, Mexico, she did not understand the Puerto Rican interpreter assigned to her. Cirila speaks Chatino, an indigenous Mexican language spoken by about 50,000 people. A social worker called in by hospital authorities deemed the new mother negligent and unfit to raise the baby, stating as reasons that she was an “illegal immigrant” and that she did not speak English.

...

Baltazar Cruz is up for deportation, while her daughter is reported to be with an affluent Ocean Springs couple.

Of Pascagoula's 26,000 residents, only 904 are foreign-born and only 20 of those immigrants are from Latin America. I cannot imagine the isolation felt by Cirila Baltazar Cruz and her agony over losing her child. Mississippi Immigrants' Rights Alliance has started a campaign to reunite Cirila and her daughter.


Photo courtesy of Greg_e