10-year-old pleads for mom facing deportation after two thefts

Martha Gutierrez will learn on Tuesday morning whether she can remain in the United States or must be deported to Mexico. She has not lived in her country of birth for four decades. The final hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Kentucky.

Gutierrez has been a permanent resident for decades, but two retail theft convictions from 1999 and 2004 flagged her for removal. Federal immigration agents arrested her in February at Midway Airport. She has been in federal immigration detention since then.

Her family gathered in Pilsen on Monday night to pray for her return. Marina Elena, Gutierrez’s 21-year-old daughter, stated that her mother’s home and people are in the United States, not in Mexico.

Nathalie, Gutierrez’s 10-year-old daughter, shared a message for her mother, whom she has not hugged in months. The child said, "I love her so much, and that I miss her."

Crystal Serrano, another of Gutierrez’s daughters, asked the judge to see her mother as a person, a mom, a grandma, and a daughter. Pastor Julie Contreras of United Giving Hope said Gutierrez stole blouses and jeans while fleeing a domestic violence situation with her daughters. Contreras noted that thousands of families face this predicament and said, "Donald Trump needs to go and look for the real criminals."

On Sunday, President Donald Trump discussed his administration's deportation efforts on 60 Minutes. He acknowledged that his immigration enforcement might be "too tough" and that this perception could hurt his party in the midterms. He also appointed Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff. In May, two sources told NBC News that Miller threatened to fire senior ICE officials over arrest numbers he considered too low, followed by a ramp-up in enforcement.

Marina Elena said her whole family hopes to have their mother home for her birthday on December 8. She described that reunion as the greatest gift they could receive.