Gaffe Tags 2 Santa Clarita Teen-Agers for Deportation

Two Latino teen-agers from Santa Clarita arrested and slated for deportation by the Border Patrol last week said officers ignored their protests and refused to believe the boys were legal residents of the United States.

Border Patrol officials deny the allegation and say the boys only revealed their legal status after they were arrested and taken to El Centro, just north of the Mexican border, for processing and deportation.

“Both claimed to our agents that they were illegal aliens, Mexican nationals illegally in the U.S.,” said Alan Dwelley, assistant chief Border Patrol agent.

But one of the boys, Julio Cesar Martinez, 14, said officers did not believe him when he said he was born in El Paso, Tex., but grew up south of the border in Ciudad Jaurez.

Martinez said he showed officers his school identification and told them he lived not far from where they were picked up. Asked why he signed a document allowing for his deportation, Martinez said, “I was kind of scared, so I just signed.”

Martinez and Osvaldo Renteria, 15, both students at William S. Hart High School, were arrested about 5 p.m. Tuesday while walking along Railroad Avenue in Newhall.

Dwelley said the boys carried no identification and did not protest when arrested by Border Patrol officers from the agency’s Bakersfield office who periodically conduct sweeps at a popular gathering place for day laborers in Newhall.

Martinez and Renteria were taken to Bakersfield on Tuesday and then placed on a Border Patrol bus to El Centro, Dwelley said.

Margarita Martinez said she became worried when her son did not come home Tuesday night and reported his disappearance to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. “I didn’t know what happened,” she said, adding that she was afraid he had been hurt in an accident.

She did not learn about her son’s arrest until Wednesday when Border Patrol agents contacted her, she said.

Juveniles facing deportation are interviewed by representatives of the Mexican Consulate in case the youngsters need help finding their families or other assistance in Mexico, Dwelley said.

While speaking with a consulate official, Martinez “decided this thing has gone far enough and claimed to be a United States citizen,” Dwelley said.

Martinez said only the Mexican official believed he was from El Paso.

Renteria has permanent resident status in the United States, Dwelley said.

Martinez’s family drove to El Centro to retrieve the boys Wednesday.

The Martinez family was planning to meet with an attorney Monday although Margarita Martinez said she did not know whether they would take legal action.