Supreme Court Justice
Tells His Story of Being
Pulled Plane In
Immigration Mistake
Following the report on
Saturday of Costa Ricans
who are prohibited from
leaving the country for
falling behind in child
support or are accused
of a crime and waiting
their day in court, the
president of the Corte
Suprema de Justicia
(Supreme Court), Luis
Paulino Mora, related
his story of how he was
pulled from an airplane
by immigration officials
at the Juan Santamaría
(San José) international
airport while leaving
the country, because he
had an "impedimento de
salida".
See Saturday's story "175.000 Costa Ricans
Cannot Leave the Country"
The incident occurred
some 18 months ago.
The Supreme Court
justice, said he was
accompanied by his wife,
Nora María Lizano
Castillo, on a trip to
Panama or Guatemala,
when was ordered off the
plane by immigration
officials because their
records showed that his
wife was suing him for
alimony.
Justice Mora said he
tried to explain to
authorities that the
woman beside him has his
wife and that there had
been a mistake. Never
the less, the justice
had to get off the
plane.
When the immigration
database was checked, it
was verified that
another person with the
same name, but a
different cedula number,
was being sued by his
wife and the magistrate
was allowed back on the
plane.
"The flight was delayed
and I was embarrased by
it because many people
who who I am", said
Mora.
However, in most other
cases, the mistaken
identity has caused the
person to lose their
flight.
The director of
Migración, Mario Zamora,
assures that they are
working on the problem,
a problem that affects
on average some 40
people a month, who are
prohibited from leaving
the country and have to
take the time to clear
up the matter before
they can travel.
Zamora admitted that
there have been cases of
people losing their
flights, suffering
economic losses and
serious moral damage,
however the solution is
not so simple with the
large number of files -
estimated at 200.000 -
before them.
Magistrate more himself
admits that the problem
has no easy solution,
especially because a lot
of the "impedimentos"
are old. |
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