After more than two years behind bars, Tara Ammons Cohen is free.
For now.
The 39-year-old Omak mother of three has been held in the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma since July 2009. With her case under review by authorities, she still faces the possibility of deportation to her native Mexico.
A guard awakened Cohen at 7:30 Friday morning and ordered her to gather her belongings and report to the center's intake office for processing. Cohen collected her files and paperwork and was soon on her way.
She has not been told why she was released.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office will have no statement on the case, said Virginia Kice, Western Regional communications director for the agency.
"We're not at liberty to comment at this time," Kice said.
Cohen was born in Mexico and at 5 months old was adopted, along with a brother and sister, by an American couple.
Her adoptive parents did not seek her naturalization, nor did Cohen apply when she became an adult. When she did seek citizenship as the wife of an American citizen, she had run afoul of the law in a drug-related case.
She had been arrested in October, 2008. Under immigration law, the drug charge could lead to detention and deportation.
Cohen served her sentence for the criminal case and subsequently was detained and delivered to the Tacoma center.
She has two cases under appeal, one to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
The second, under review at the Vermont Service Center of the U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services, concerns Cohen's chance to remain in America under a "U visa," which is granted to crime victims who cooperate with police.
Cohen did just that after an attack she suffered at age 17.
Before being released Friday, Cohen contacted her Tacoma attorney, Erica Schommer, who provided transportation to offices in South Tacoma.
Cohen spent the morning waiting for her husband and two sons, who were traveling from Omak for a reunion.
"I've been locked up for 31 months," Cohen said in conference room at Schommer's office.
"I've missed my son's first school dance, my son's eighth-grade graduation, my daughter's 18th birthday and her high school graduation. I missed all my family events. My son is taller now I look up at him."
When she was awakened, she said, "I was groggy. One of the girls helped me get my stuff together. I thought, 'Maybe I've got a doctor's appointment.' This was a whole shock-a-roonie."
Tears mixed with laughter as she tried to find the reality of freedom.
"I'm speechless," she said. "Is this really happening? I'm still in shock. I feel like a little kid."
Her first stop was at McDonald's, for a pair of breakfast sandwiches.
"It was so cool going to McDonald's," she said. "It was so cool walking out of the detention center without shackles on." Her first call went to her husband, Jay.
"Come and get me," she told him. "They're letting me go. I'm coming home." At Schommer's office, Cohen called her mother, Janet Ammons, in California.
"Hello mom? I'm out!" she said.
Tears flowed.
"Nobody knows what happened," Cohen said. "They woke me up."
After the call, Cohen reflected on the past two years.
"When I went in, I was arrogant and cocky," she said. "I thought that I was better than anyone there. I was an American.
"Then I lost my first (immigration) case. Another detainee told me, 'You've got to get right with God.' I was raised in church. She was so right. I surrendered everything over to God. I got baptized.
"The more I surrendered, the more doors opened up. I didn't give up."
Cohen has never visited Mexico, she knows of no relatives there and she does not speak Spanish.
She does possess a U.S. Social Security card, she said, and she has paid her taxes. Her brother has served two tours in Iraq with the U.S. military and her sister has the status of a permanent resident here.
Her own status is unclear. With her case under appeal, she is now "under supervision," she said. She has been told to report monthly to an officer in Yakima.
She plans to continue the advocacy work she began at the detention center, helping other inmates navigate the law library.
"I'm not done," she said. "I'm going to be a total advocate for getting an adoption law passed. I am jumping on the Internet to find out what groups I can work with and get involved with.
"I have observed the heartbroken women who have been in this country 20, 30 years. I'll do whatever I need to do to change these laws."
She has begun writing a book she calls "Illusion of Citizenship."
Her immediate plans, however, concerned a barbecue, popcorn, a movie and a sleepover as friends of her sons were planning to visit Friday evening.
"It's like my pastor said," Cohen proclaimed. "It's not how hard you fall, it's how you get up."
C.R. Roberts: 253-597-8535
c.r.roberts@thenewstribune.com
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