INS Chief Gives Surrogate Mother Year to Stay in U.S., Fight for Baby

‘I don’t think that this country should be a place where people can be taken advantage of like this lady has been.’

INS Regional Commissioner Harold Ezell

Charging that a Mexican woman who is at the center of a bitterly contested surrogate mother case in San Diego had been duped and was the victim of a “con,” a top federal immigration official said Tuesday that authorities have decided to grant her an additional year of U.S. residency.

“We feel that this young lady has the right to her day in court,” said Harold Ezell, who, as Western regional commissioner for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, is the top-ranking INS official in California.

Not only did the INS agree to extend the woman’s stay for “humanitarian” reasons, but the often-outspoken Ezell also clearly allied himself with Alejandra Munoz, the Mexican surrogate mother--and illegal alien--who was under an order to leave the United States by today or face deportation proceedings.

“What this lady’s been through, nobody should go through,” said Ezell, standing beside a tearful Munoz during a San Diego news conference at which he waved a photograph of child and mother to assembled television cameras. “And I hope (this) sends a message out that you can’t go to some foreign country and put the con on some poor innocent person and bring them up here, and expect to walk away with the only thing that they possess, that is, the life that she gave to this child.”

Later, Ezell offered to testify on Munoz’s behalf during future custody hearings, adding: “I don’t think that this country should be a place where people can be taken advantage of like this lady has been.”

In effect, Ezell--whom rights groups have assailed as insensitive to the plight of illegal aliens--appeared to accept the version of facts presented by Munoz, a 21-year-old Mexican citizen who maintains that she was duped into signing a statement giving custody of the child to Mario and Natty Haro, a Chula Vista couple.

By contrast, the Haros, who now share custody of the child with Munoz, have asserted that Munoz willingly agreed to bear the child in return for $1,500.

The Haros could not be reached for com ment Tuesday. Merle Schneidewind, their attorney, did not return several telephone calls.

Ezell’s statements came one day before Munoz faced an INS-imposed deadline to leave the United States voluntarily or face a deportation order. Munoz was smuggled into the United States in September, 1985, according to the INS, which is now investigating the circumstances of her arrival, according to James Turnage, the agency’s district director in San Diego.

Such a deportation order, said Harvey Berman, Munoz’s attorney, would have severely hampered Munoz’s chances of retaining custody of her child, Lydia Michelle Haro, who was born June 25. Under an arrangement reached in February in Superior Court, Munoz shares custody of the 10-month-old child with the Haros.

Because of Tuesday’s actions, Munoz will now be allowed to remain in the United States until at least April 22, 1988; the time period could be extended if necessary, Ezell said. During the one-year period, officials said, Munoz will be permitted to work and travel in the United States, although trips out of the country require advance approval from the INS. Currently, Berman said, Munoz lives with relatives in National City and receives $50 a month in child support from the Haros.

The practical effect of the ruling, said Berman, was to bolster Munoz’s prospective efforts to increase her custody rights. Munoz intends to go back into Superior Court in an effort to increase her access to the child, according to Berman, who could not say when the next court action would come. Munoz now is entitled to visit the baby three times weekly and in August will be able to keep Lydia overnight every other Friday.