A Westlake student and her mother, both of whom arrived in the U.S. as asylum seekers, were deported to Guatemala after being detained at their immigration appointment.
The family of 17-year-old Nory Santoy Ramos and her mother is distraught following their deportation, which took place on the Fourth of July. The two arrived in the U.S. as asylum seekers when Ramos was 6 and the teen had made strides in her school life.
“I saw her grow up, so learning a new language and go through the obstacles she did is just so unfair having this taken away from her in a blink of an eye,” said Jennifer Ramos, Nory’s cousin.
In a phone call with NBC4, the teenager, who was an honor student and track star at Miguel Contreras High School, said she was devastated about the deportation.
“I feel really sad because I was hoping to graduate with my friends and be there with them doing track and field,” she said in tears. “I didn’t expect this.”
Nory shared that she and her mother were scared when they were detained since they were unsure where they would end up. Ultimately, they were taken to Texas and then flown to Guatemala.
“I was like, ‘Can we make a call? Because none of our family doesn’t know that we’ve been deported.’ They were just like, ‘No, your family already knew. They already know that you guys are deported,’” Nory said.
While Nory and her mother assess their new reality, their loved ones said they are working on steps to bring them back.
NBC4 intern Cecilia Mendez-Comas contributed to this report.
