A 9-year-old girl who walked nearly 2,000 miles, most of it alone, from her native Honduras to the United States, pleaded Thursday with a hearing officer in Chicago to let her stay in the U.S.
Dina Mutate is among the estimated 68,000 unaccompanied minors who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border last year. The girl traveled on foot, by bus, and at times by hitchhiking to join her mother and brother in Chicago and escape the gang-fueled violence in her native country.
Mutate is just beginning to learn English so a translator was on-hand when the girl spoke with reporters following her hearing at the Chicago U.S. Asylum Office, at 181 W. Madison St.
"She described the murder of her cousin that was murdered outside of her home, and when she exits the home and observes that the cousin is all shot up in his face. I think no child should have to answer or repeat such a traumatic, horrific experience," Julie Contreras said in translating some of the difficult experiences Mutate said she endured.
The 9-year-old was represented by attorney Christopher Helt, who expressed appreciation for the manner in which Mutate was able to share her life story during the three-and-a-half hour interview.
"To sit through that interview -- to see the courage of that child -- I don't know how this case couldn't end being a positive one," Helt said.
The deportation proceedings against Mutate continue while the hearing officer considers her application for political asylum. That process could take as long as two months.
