Texas couple arrested in northern Mexico for illegally taking Mexican baby

ASSOCIATED PRESS

10:43 a.m. March 1, 2007

MONTERREY, Mexico – A Texas couple was arrested in Monterrey after inquiring about a visa at the U.S. Consulate here for a 2-week-old baby boy they said was given to them, police said Thursday.

Sergio Velez, 42, and Tomasa Ibarra, 39, both of San Antonio, Texas, were arrested outside the U.S. Consulate late Wednesday, Monterrey police said in a news release.

Velez, a U.S. citizen, and Ibarra, a legal U.S. resident, told police a 21-year-old woman they met in the northern state of San Luis Potosi, where Ibarra is from, offered them the baby in December.

The couple were being detained and face charges of trying to buy or rob a child, said Epifanio Vasquez, a spokesman for Monterrey police.

You would be surprised how often this happens! Americans come to Mexico and see how horrible a child's life is and want to adopt them, to rescue them from their desperate situation. And this is a good thing until the adoptive parents try to obtain permission from the drug addicted birth parents. That's when money enters the picture. These birth parents can't part with their "precious little one" who has been in an orphanage for weeks or months, never visited by these parents or has been fending for itself on the streets. That is until they hear that Americans are interested. Then, for reasonable compensation, say, US$5,000, they will sign anything. Unfortunately, the Americans too often pay the parents and then lie to the Mexican judge because what they did was illegal in Mexico. But, their actions are justified, aren't they? They are saving this poor little one from a life of heartache and pain, aren't they?

The end does not justify the means! Pragmatism is not a tenet of the Christian faith! If you violate your integrity in the name of philanthropy, what price do you pay in your soul? -mm