A Dallas teen missing for more than a year has been found living in Colombia. Lorene Turner tells WFAA that her granddaughter Jakadrien Turner ran away from home in the fall of 2010 when she was just 14. Jakadrien made her way to Houston, where she was arrested by police.
That's when things took a turn toward the Kafka-esque. Jakadrien gave the police a false name and her new alias just happened to match up with the name of a 22-year-old Colombian citizen who had been in the United States illegally. And to compound Turner's plight further, the Colombian national had a warrant out for her arrest.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) then deported Jakadrien in April 2011.
"They didn't do their work," Lorene Turner said. "How do you deport a teenager and send her to Colombia without a passport, without anything?"
Turner said she'd been looking on her computer every night for clues to her granddaughter's location, and has been cooperating with Dallas police as she carries out her search. It turns out that after Jakadrien was deported, she was given a work card in Colombia and released onto the streets.
"She talked about how they had her working in this big house cleaning all day, and how tired she was," Turner said.
Jakadrien is now being held in a Colombia detention facility while awaiting more information on her case.
"ICE takes these allegations very seriously," said ICE Director of Public Affairs Brian Hale. " At the direction of [the Department of Homeland Security], ICE is fully and immediately investigating this matter in order to expeditiously determine the facts of this case."
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From among comments:
Ron • Phoenix, Arizona using the wrong name just made up to give to the police is not a good ideal i had a freind in az who was wanted on an open container warrent and was pulled over and he gave a false name guess what the name he used was wanted in NY for murder away he went
Arlen • Arlington, Texas Those of you saying things at home couldn't be all that bad and that kids should never run away are dead wrong...things at home are very often the worst possible situation a child can be in and running away may be the only solution at the time...think drugs, think irresponsible or uncaring parents, think beatings LITERALLY within an inch of their lives, think molestation, rape and murder...the list goes on...and the excuses range from "I just simply got distracted and forgot" to "God told me to do it"...all of these things have happened to children where they live. crimes committed by babysitters, boyfriends/girlfriends, parents, sisters, brothers and other family...it's in the news all the time
Human • Beverly Hills, California She's gonna come back with awesome skills! Super bilingual and didn't have to pay for Tuition expenses “studying abroad” and she doesn’t seem to bright so she has the job skills that are perfect for her in Houston. I think it was a win win! you go girl