North Carolina judge stops deportation after woman gives birth

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A judge in Charlotte has canceled the deportation of a woman to Mexico after she gave birth.

Isaide Serrano had come to the United States illegally in 1991. Serrano was stopped by a Charlotte police officer two years ago for a traffic violation. She was jailed and officials were processing her for deportation.

But at 5 a.m. Thursday, she gave birth to a boy at Carolinas Medical Center. Four hours later, she attended a rally of about 100 people who said she was being treated unfairly. Armando Bellmas with the Latin American Coalition says Serrano was a mother and housewife whose children only knew the United States as home.

At the 11 a.m. hearing, a judge canceled her deportation. She headed back to the hospital to be with her son.