The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A WOMAN who says she was born in The Bahamas is being held by US immigration authorities under a 24-year-old deportation order.

However, questions remain over her nationality and where she could ultimately be sent.

Sirena Prosper, 47, a Florida business owner and mother of seven, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at her Pompano Beach beauty salon on September 14.

Ms Prosper says she was born in The Bahamas and was taken to the United States when she was about seven months old. However, it remains unclear whether she is a Bahamian citizen, while her US immigration records reportedly list her birthplace as Haiti.

ICE said an immigration judge ordered Ms Prosper deported on January 9, 2002.

The combination has left uncertainty over which country, if any, the United States could remove her to.

Information about the citizenship of Ms Prosper’s parents has not been established. Under Bahamian law, being born in The Bahamas does not by itself necessarily establish citizenship.

Organisers of a “Stand Up for Sirena” vigil held in her support said Ms Prosper has lived in the United States for virtually her entire life and later became a lawful permanent resident.

Six of her seven children are US citizens, including three who are minors.

Ms Prosper is being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Centre as relatives and supporters press for her release and return to her family.

A vigil was held outside her Pompano Beach business on Tuesday.

Speaking by telephone from the detention facility to South Florida television station 7News, Ms Prosper said she was grateful for the support she had received.

“My hope is that I can return home to my kids, my family,” she said.

The Haitian Times reported that Ms Prosper’s arrest began at about 9pm on September 14 as she was closing Royal Hands Salon.

Her niece, Marie Prospère, reportedly received an urgent call after several law enforcement officers approached the rear of the business and began asking about children near the salon.

Ms Prosper told the officers the children were hers, according to the report, and they asked to see her identification.

Believing the officers wanted proof that the boys — aged 14, 12 and 10 — were her children, Ms Prosper had one of them take her identification card outside.

She then called Ms Prospère, who lived nearby.

“She was saying, ‘Get my I.D.’ and ‘close my door,’” Ms Prospère said. “The next thing I heard was screaming and all kinds of ‘whoa.’ That’s when I left my house and I went over there.”

Ms Prospère said she arrived minutes later and saw several men wearing “GEO” shirts, with Ms Prosper sitting inside an open vehicle as her children watched. One of the children was recording on his phone.

Her cousin, Alexandra Francois, said the family has struggled with the uncertainty surrounding her detention and does not know when she might return home.

Ms Prosper has remained in ICE custody since her arrest.