Judge Delays Deportation of Thai Boy for 2 Weeks

In a surprise decision, a federal judge Tuesday ordered the INS to wait two weeks before deporting the Thai toddler used in an apparent smuggling scheme to make sure the boy will be safe when he returns to Thailand.

U.S. District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian issued a temporary restraining order against the Immigration and Naturalization Service, quoting from the famous inscription on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your . . . huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

The extra time, the judge said, will allow for the 2-year-old’s grandparents to arrive from Thailand and take custody of the child.

Judge Tevrizian also ordered the INS to pay for independent physicians--appointed by the judge--to treat the child for an ear infection and other health problems.

His decision came after days of mounting tension over the fate of the child, nicknamed Got. The boy arrived in Los Angeles nearly four weeks ago with two adults who claimed to be his parents. Authorities believed they were part of a slave labor ring that used the child as a decoy to make it appear they were a family on vacation.

Officials believe the child was bought or rented for the task.

Got was initially scheduled to be deported Tuesday afternoon, but Thai activists who have been caring for him wanted to delay his return until they could ensure his safety in Thailand.

The caregivers for the child shed tears of gratitude after the judge’s decision.

“This was beyond our hopes,” said Hae Jung Cho, project director for the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, which has been involved in the case. “It’s a godsend.”

Lawyers for the U.S. attorney and INS argued in court that the child’s return had already been delayed several weeks so he could recover from an ear infection, chicken pox and a cold.

“This is not an expedited departure,” said Janna Sidley, an assistant U.S. attorney.

Sidley also insisted that, as legal guardians, the INS alone could determine the boy’s fate. “The United States government believes these people [Thai activists] do not have standing to represent this child,” she said.

Thomas J. Schiltgen, INS district director for Los Angeles, said his office has been investigating the smuggling ring that led to Got’s arrival in the city.

“I do not believe, however, that those investigations should interfere with the child being returned to Thailand,” he told Tevrizian.

The judge disagreed.

“The problem with the criminal justice system is that we push for statistics and we don’t take the time to look at cases individually,” said Tevrizian during an impassioned address from the bench. “I’m not going to treat him like a no-name individual.”

Early Tuesday, the child’s lawyers--from the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law--announced they had filed a federal lawsuit and were requesting temporary asylum. “There are no assurances that this child won’t end up in the streets again in two or three months,” said attorney Peter A. Schey.

All agree the child should be returned to his paternal grandparents, who live in northern Thailand. The child’s father is dead and his mother apparently collaborated in the scheme, and is not a suitable custodian, according to Piyawat Niyom-rerks, the consul general of the Royal Thai Consulate.

By 2:30 p.m.--the time Got was scheduled to fly home--Tevrizian summoned all those involved in the case for an unscheduled hearing.

Officials with the U.S. attorney’s office expected the judge to throw out the case on the grounds that Got’s caregivers had no legal standing to file it.

Schey and his colleagues said they feared the worst. “We were kind of out on a limb with this,” he said later.

But they received a hint of the hearing’s outcome beforehand. Tevrizian had asked Schey to bring a petition for guardianship. In the end, he granted temporary guardianship of Got--on matters pertaining to his INS case--to Chutima Vucharatavintara, the social worker who has been caring for him.

During the hearing, the judge spent several minutes reading court documents filed by Schey detailing the dangers of Got’s immediate return to Thailand, including the fact that he had been turned over to smugglers for about $250--”basically pennies,” Tevrizian said.

“This is serious,” he said. “This child’s welfare is at stake.”

Tevrizian also said he would call a respected ear doctor, Dr. John W. House of the House Ear Institute, to examine Got.