A paperwork snafu appears to have landed two young brothers in detention at San Francisco International Airport.
The two brothers, 19-year-old Christian Laporte and nine-year-old Vladimir Fardin, both have legal visas to be in the U.S., but were detained at SFO by Customs and Border Patrol. Laporte is a student at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill with a valid student visa, who traveled home to Haiti to be his family for the holidays and is now trying to return to the Bay Area with his brother.
Milli Atkinson, the legal director for the SF Legal Defense Collaborative, said the issue is Laporte’s proof of attendance is not current, but he has no way to correct it from the airport.
"Because they're holding him at the airport and not allowing him to communicate with his attorney or his family or anyone at his school, he's not able to resolve the issue with his student visa."
Now, the boys are in danger of being handed over to federal immigrations officials, who may separate the brothers and send Fardin to a government-run shelter.
"We just don't want them to be separated, and we don't want the nine-year-old sent to a detention center somewhere and then lose contact with his family," said Atkinson. "Our worst case scenario is they would try to send them back to Mexico City where their flight originated, where they have no family or no contacts and no legal status, and they would be basically in immigration limbo stuck outside of Haiti and stuck outside of the United States."
She told KCBS Radio they are trying to resolve the paperwork issue before the brothers are separated.
CBP has not responded to KCBS Radio's request for comment.
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