In a Locked Room at the Airport

The death of infant Michael Tony Fruti at Honolulu Airport brought to mind a similar event that occurred in Houston in May 2007. Mrs. G, woman in her late 60s, who spoke little English, was sitting next me on a plane as we flew from Washington to Houston. She began to have heart palpitations as we approached Houston. She had been detained a few days before when she landed in Houston (from Mexico). Now that she was returning she panicked, had chest pains and truly thought she was going to die. I wrote about this is a different blog (bornintheUSA2008.blogspot.com - "An embedded observer in the capital" May 20, 2007)

The problem occurred because Mrs. G had overstayed her visa by a few days in December 2006. While going through immigration at the Houston airport in early May 2007, she was placed in a detention room and interrogated by customs agents who she said screamed at her. She became very fearful and couldn't breathe. After a few minutes they brought in a medic and she was given oxygen.

The D.C.-Houston flight started out fine until the stewardess asked Mrs. G to move. A honeymooning couple were in separate seats - the request was so they could sit together. Since the woman did not speak English, she thought she was being moved because of some type of immigration problem.

Ironically, the newlywed wife was a nurse, and ended up attending Mrs. G after she fell ill. During the few minutes the younger woman was with Mrs. G, we spoke (in English) about the immigration situation in the U.S. She said it was important to secure our borders because there were lots of dangerous people trying to cross into the United States. She must not have thought dealing with Mexicans in Mexico was that risky - her honeymoon destination was one of Mexico's Americanized resorts.

When we landed back in Houston, Mrs. G panicked again when she was leaving the plane; she thought the EMT's who attended her were actually immigration officers coming to take her away.


A few minutes later, I was standing next to Mrs. G at the gate as the blond newlywed walked by with her handsome husband. I smiled at her and said "have fun." She had a scowl on her face and pretended she didn't see me.

How often are people like Mrs. G and the Fruti baby having to experience this type of treatment when arriving in the U.S.? As I told the EMT's at the Houston airport, they were going to see a lot more of this if ICE continued it's policies of demonizing immigrants.