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Mary Tavares, who came to
Fall River, Mass., as a child, married well, then slipped into drug abuse
and prostitution, is arrested on a charge of assault and sentenced to
a year in prison. Because she is not a U.S. citizen, upon completion of
her sentence, she is banished to the Azores, where she was born. This
is her story -- and that of her fellow deportees.
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Photo / Courtesy
of
Cidade family
MARY
TAVARES,
of Fall River, Mass.,
before her heroin
addiction and
subsequent deportation.
GIVE
US
YOUR TWO CENTS
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Day
One
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Banished to the Azores
PONTA DELGADA,
The Azores -- America washed its hands of Mary Tavares on Oct. 7 -- just
weeks after they buried her father and roughly five years after her husband
introduced her to the Devil.
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Oklahoma
bombing
prompts
crackdown
on
convicted aliens
Legal
residents
at risk
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Day
Two
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A flight into exile
PONTA
DELGADA, The Azores -- Putting
Mary Tavares on a one-way flight out of Logan International Airport wasn't
enough. Federal immigration guidelines demanded eyewitness evidence she
was actually out of the country. The reason was simple. Once out, she'd
need a visa to get back in -- a visa she could never get.
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O
Jornal publisher takes up cause of Portuguese people
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Day
Three
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Life in the ruins
PONTA
DELGADA, The Azores -- Even
with just one leg, Joe Freitas figures he's one of the lucky ones. Unlike
most of the 427 men and women deported to the Azores from southeastern
New England over the past several years, Freitas is reconciled to his
fate and determined to make the most of his new life.
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Three
voices in the distance: Selected passages from interviews with deportees
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Day
Four
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Help, in a new land
PONTA
DELGADA, The Azores -- As
soon as the young man started crying, Marietta Pimentel knew it meant
trouble. It was the last thing she wanted to see from a 28-year-old ex-con
with a voracious and longstanding appetite for illicit drugs. These are
the deportees who are often the most difficult to reach -- the ones who
are in denial.
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Islands
in the Atlantic: New homes for deportees
A
cry of despair, an offer of help
U.S.
agrees to give more notice on deportations
Lawmaker holds out hope of easing law
By
the numbers: Island in the stream
Official Azores tourism site
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Day
Five
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Seized in the night
NEW
BEDFORD, Mass. -- The
muffled sobs and murmurs of reassurance had been lapping against Tara's
bedroom door for nearly two hours, but somehow, Maria de Freitas's 4-year-old
daughter didn't stir.
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Judge:
Penalty must fit the crime
Mass.
congressman hoping 'crazy' law can be changed
By
the numbers: Awaiting their fate
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Day
Six
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Cleaning up the county
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — At the time, says Dist. Atty. Paul Walsh, it seemed like a good idea: ship all of Bristol County's foreign-born drug traffickers out of the country the day they get out of prison.
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Deportee worker raps Walsh's program
INS: Blame Congress for law's `harsh consequences'
Fall River woman at dead end on the road of broken dreams
About the author
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Aftermath
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DA halts accelerated deportation program
NEW BEDFORD -- Bristol County Dist. Atty. Paul F. Walsh Jr. has quietly decided to stop blowing the whistle on people
who are subject to deportation under the 1996 antiterrorism law.
According to Eddy Sirois, Walsh's chief of staff, the district attorney abandoned his first-in-the-nation accelerated deportation
program more than a month ago, primarily because he did not want to spend money to keep it going.
Lawmakers journey to the Azores
PONTA
DELGADA, Azores -- There were a few close calls, but by the time they
got back to the hotel to begin packing last night for their return to
America, 26 lawmakers from Rhode Island and Massachusetts had yet to meet
a deportee. As for Mary Tavares, her life in exile has taken a turn for
the worse.
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