Jakadrien Turner, Missing Dallas Teen, Was Mistakenly Deported To Colombia By Authorities (VIDEO)

A Dallas teenager who has been missing for two years was mistakenly deported to Colombia by authorities after she was arrested for theft, according to a Dallas-area news outlet.

Jakadrien Turner, who is now 15, ran away from home after her parents' divorce and her grandfather's death, according to WFAA. Shortly after, she was arrested in Houston for theft, and gave the police a fake name. But that name belonged to a Colombian national who was in the United States illegally, which led federal authorities to deport Turner — an African-American who does not speak Spanish.

Her grandmother, Lorene Turner, told the television station that she had been frantically searching for Jakadrien online. "They didn't do their work," Lorene said. "How do you deport a teenager and send her to Colombia without a passport, without anything?"

Immigration officials told WFAA that they followed procedure, and that they attempted to verify her identity and found nothing amiss. But since American officials reached out to the Colombian government for help, the country's government has placed Jakadrien in a detention facility and refuses to return her to the U.S.

The paper also summed up some of her recent posts on Facebook:

July 6, 8:24 a.m.: She wants to get another job because she needs money. She says that times are getting hard and she's trying to go to Barbados. She reiterates that she wants to be in the United States to see everyone she loves.

July 28, 10:44 a.m.: She wishes for a "time machine" to rewind all the bad things that she did wrong. "I'M NEVER GOING TO BE HAPPY HERE!" she writes.

Aug. 1, 2:19 p.m.: She writes that rumors of her being dead are not true. She said that she was in a coma for about a month and is now recovered.

Aug. 2, 8:24 p.m.: She said that she misses Kimball and misses Dallas.

Aug. 4, 8:06 p.m.: She writes that she is trying to go to Mexico or Cali, Colombia. She says that she needs to be in the United States and that the closes location is Mexico. She says, "Houston I'm coming to you." She said that she also misses people in Dallas and Houston.

Jakadrien's last post was on Nov. 15 at 6:26 p.m. It read: 
"Well bak in a relationship with same man I broke up with, lol! I love him dearly tho!!!! I think that will never happen, mae that mistake of oing that, beause he show me that he is serious with me, an so on, so ok lol!!!!!"

Comments

[Danilo-11]

01:07 PM on 01/10/2012

Here's the real issue that nobody mentions.... Our government should have a way to check if a person is a citizen and nobody should ever be deported (specially a kid) before checking that that's the country where they are from. Why? People can be forced to do what that girl did and end up on the other side of the World.

[RobD407]

11:58 AM on 01/14/2012

The only way to be sure is to have every American, from birth, entered into a national ID database. Photo, fingerprints, biometrics (facial recognition and retina scan) and DNA, then it would not be possible to be misidentified.

It would also be the ultimate law enforcement tool, nobody could use false ID. Put your hand on the scanner or look into the eyepiece and within minutes your data pops up, they could also identify bodies that way.

Every person coming into the country could also be entered into the database, cops would know immigration status, length of visa, etc.

I can also see some privacy concerns. They could easily implement the same technology for point of sale for credit cards and to track purchase patterns.

[Dream and Hustle]

08:17 PM on 01/07/2012

Reading some the most illogical statements on a comment board...how does "lying" get you DEPORTED TO COLUMBIA!

If that is true, then I guess all it takes is for someone to LIE to start detaining American citizens indefinitely thanks to the law President Obama signed or someone to LIE to start deporting legitimate American citizens.

[jweider]

12:49 AM on 01/07/2012

Pretty smart move on some illegal aliens part. Get some really dumb kid to assume your identity and get deported. The government thinks that you've been deported. You're free to do whatever you want.

[maliksmama]

10:46 PM on 01/06/2012

This chick is silly. The sad thing is she's pregnant. That baby doesn't stand a chance with her for a mom.

[Kandie]

08:37 PM on 01/06/2012

I definitely don't think race had anything to do with it. This girl, though young CHOSE to a) steal and get arrested. She then made a conscious CHOICE to 2)give a false name AND lie and say she was from Columbia. At no point did she 3)contact her family, even when she was advised of being deported. She has been working, had access to phones, and the internet. She has been posting on her facebook page and posting pics. Oh, and she is pregnant. She had numerous opportunities to prevent the deportation and also to get back home or in touch with her family and friends. Her fingerprints obviously weren't on record for a previous crime for them to know she was a 14 yr old, American and she at no point did she offer up that info. There is definitely something very fishy about this situation but I don't think race had anything to do with it.

[prettylites2011]

05:25 PM on 01/06/2012

Child prostitution is very big in a lot of these Latin American countries, and believe me the US goverrnment is in on it too. Why do you all think so many children come up missing and are never seen again? they are being deported to a lot of these countries cause the US gets big bucks for this

[rpr1074]

04:51 PM on 01/06/2012

They won't deport illegals but they'll deport this kid and not do anything about it. This is totally ridiculous and something needs to be done about it now, not tomorrow or next week, but now. Get this kid back home where he belongs.

[Meadowledge]

03:24 PM on 01/06/2012

This girls is to be returned to her family soon, however, she should not have been deported. Yes, she lied, yes I think that she had a boyfriend or male she was interested in and she created this fiction to get to him. I think that the boyfriend provided her with the identity she gave the authorities. I think that she needs to be put in counseling and need major phycological help (she doesn't seen too healthy in that respect). No I don't think that her parents should pay for her return, she is a minor child and she was deported by the gov, therefore they pay. Lastly, I am shocked to read so many hateful comments about this girl, I do think her race is a factor in this. If she was for example a young 17 year girl, from a upper crust family, she would have never been lost. Her color did play a factor, also even if she was given representation or a lawyer, her sentencing would have taken a few days at most and she would have been incarcerated most of the time she was waiting deportation. Fishy yes, deserved no!

[VEGASMADAM]

01:53 PM on 01/06/2012

Re: Missing teen deported to Columbia. Texas officials trick people into jails abroad by getting them to mule drugs/money across a border for $10,000. They've been doing this for years especially towards Sex Workers. I have no idea what becomes of the entrapped victims, my co-workers disappeared in Bangkok jail. CIA Kyle Foggo was part of this scheme in the past he is now in prison himself.
CIA & FBI PIMPS: https://sites.google.com/site/ciapimps/

[compajuan049]

01:50 PM on 01/06/2012

I commend the authorities of Colombia for trying to to help her settle into society with the "Welcome Back" program trying to get her a job and temporary lodging until they found out her real situation., and shame on ICE and Homeland Security for allowing something so obvious become such a costly and traumatic mess! maybe we can learn a little more from Colombian hospitality to their own?

[ckitchel]

12:35 PM on 01/06/2012

I honestly don't know what to say, except that I think everybody was in the wrong here. After she gave the authorities a false name, they should have done more looking into it to double-check on whether or not she was that illegal alien. Is it really that hard to mistaken a 13 year old African American for a 23 year old Columbian? Seriously?

Also, she was in the wrong for stealing and lying to the police in the first place. I think the people that are posting in here and excusing her actions are just as stupid and thick-headed. I may be only 22 years old and don't have kids of my own, but I at least know better than to get in trouble with the law.... I didn't even do that sort of thing when I was her age, never done anything bad like that in my life... and before somebody retorts by saying "oh, you must be some perfect angel" in a sarcastic tone to make their own end of the argument, then how about you screw off and accept the fact that decent people in America actually do exist. When are people gonna stop using the "oh, they're just kids" excuse and start blaming the parents as well?

[Cayita]

01:30 PM on 01/06/2012

"Is it really that hard to mistaken a 13 year old African American for a 23 year old Columbian? Seriously?"

So how do you think Colombians look like? There are plenty of black people in Colombia. Percentage wise, it is probably the same as in the US.

And about the age difference, the average American looks older and is bigger than the average Colombian. A 14 year old American kid can easily look like a 22 year old Colombian kid.

[meokuok2]

03:13 PM on 01/06/2012

Afro-Colom­bianos, or what we call "Blacks" in the U.S., make up over 40% of the population of Colombia. A much larger percentage than the 13% Afro-Americans in the U.S.

[gotwickdotcom]

08:25 AM on 01/12/2012

"Immigration officials told WFAA that they followed procedure, and that they attempted to verify her identity and found nothing amiss."
"But that name belonged to a Colombian national who was in the United States illegally,"

Knowing a bit about immigration because my husband is an immigrant, and knowing that the government knew the Columbian national was here illegally, then they had to have fingerprints, do you really think the fingerprints of this young girl matched those of the Columbian woman???? I sincerely doubt that complete procedure was followed....

[Joe Dallas]

12:02 PM on 01/06/2012

Apparently not the brightest 14 year old. Caught stealing - give a false name of someone who is here illegally - process of deportation starts - she continues her story - never bothers to tell anyone her real name - never bothers to tell anyone she cant speak spanish.

[ywcachieve]

11:21 AM on 01/06/2012

Only in Texas would some chit like this go down. I venture to suspect it was not a mistaken deportation.

[BlairCase]

11:49 AM on 01/06/2012

Texas didn't deport Jakadrien Turner. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported her. Her attorney also thought she was Colombian. There is something about her story that is not being told. She didn't come up with the name of a Colombian fugitive out of the blue. They was probably some connection between the two.

[RobD407]

10:29 AM on 01/14/2012

One could just as easily say "Only under President Obama would some chit like this go down.", it makes more sense than blaming Texas since ICE works for him. But being reasonable and not blinded by a partisan agenda, I'm not blaming the President.

[ywcachieve]

11:17 AM on 01/06/2012

It was not 2 years ago. She ran away in the fall of 2010, that was just over a year ago. The journalism in this coutnry is really sub-par.

[Fonsini]

10:44 AM on 01/06/2012

A black teen arrested for theft who lives with her grandparents.

How unusual.

[richsmith]

11:07 AM on 01/06/2012

The unusual and bizarre part is that thuggish Keystone Cops at ICE deported her. Franz Kafka would have had a field day with such "only in the US and third world" adventures like this. Would you attribute this event to stupidity or racism?

[Fonsini]

11:30 AM on 01/06/2012

I was thinking more along the lines of good luck.