Stay of deportation issued for Brentwood woman, mother of 5, taken by ICE this month, lawyer says

A Brentwood mother of five who was facing deportation to El Salvador as part of a nationwide immigration crackdown has won an initial victory, staving off her return to the Central American nation where gangs killed her husband, her attorney said Monday

Nuvia Yessenia Martinez Ventura, 30, obtained an emergency stay of a deportation order against her, said East Islip-based attorney, Ala Amoachi. That means she won’t be immediately deported from an ICE facility in Houston while a motion to reopen her political asylum case is considered.

The stay was handed down on Friday by a federal Board of Immigration Appeals judge, Amoachi said. If that had not happened, Martinez Ventura probably would have been deported over the weekend, she said. She was arrested by ICE on June 11.

“I think it’s an incredible victory because if she gets removed, the chances of being able to return are challenging,” Amoachi said.

In the order, the judge wrote, "The Board has concluded that further review is necessary and thus a stay of removal is warranted."

Now Amoachi is fighting to have Martinez Ventura released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Texas and returned to Long Island. Her 11-year-old son has Type 1 diabetes and landed in the hospital because his mother wasn't around to inject his insulin at home, Amoachi said.

Two of her other children are autistic. Martinez Ventura has her own health problems, the lawyer added.

“She’s sick. The kids are sick. They need her,” Amoachi said.

It’s not clear what will ultimately happen to Martinez Ventura, Amoachi said. She could still be deported or not even returned temporarily to Long Island while her case is being processed.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

Martinez Ventura was detained by ICE when she reported for what she thought was a routine check-in with immigration authorities in Manhattan. She was transferred to Houston on June 16, her 30th birthday.

She illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2016 while fleeing for her life after gang members killed her husband in El Salvador, Amoachi said. She has no criminal record.

Martinez Ventura was caught up in what President Donald Trump has pledged will be the largest mass deportation program in U.S. history. Trump contends illegal immigration is out of control and that the crackdown is targeting mainly dangerous criminals.

But advocates say most of those rounded up so far are blue-collar workers, without criminal records, who are filling jobs in restaurants, factories, hotels and on farms.

For more than a week, Martinez Ventura’s children did not know where she was, relatives said. Three of her children, ages 3, 4 and 7, are U.S. citizens, and she also has a 10-year-old daughter.

On Friday, the children finally had contact with her through a videoconference from the ICE facility in Houston.

The youngest children were crying and saying, “Mama, Mama,” said Martinez Ventura’s sister, Maria, who did not want her last name used.

“It’s hard to see them” upset, Maria said in Spanish. “We are trusting in God that she can leave to be reunited with her children. They need her.”