Veteran fights to bring his mother back home

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10110931

Published Sunday | August 19, 2007
Veteran fights to bring his mother back home
BY CINDY GONZALEZ
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

COLUMBUS, Neb. — Luis Estrada was in his mother's belly when she crossed illegally into the United States 20 years ago.


Luis Estrada, left, and his 13-year-old brother, Saul Rendon, look over family pictures in Estrada's Columbus, Neb., apartment. Estrada won a Purple Heart in Iraq, but his mother was deported soon after his return.


He grew into a fierce protector, guiding five younger siblings through tumultuous times: abandonment by their father, mom's depression and alcohol abuse, the kids' dispersal into foster homes.

When he was fresh out of high school, Estrada's Nebraska Army National Guard unit was called to Iraq, where he narrowly survived a roadside bomb blast.

He had barely recuperated when an e-mail alerted him of a battle closer to home: His mom was being deported.

Today, the young veteran is waging a legal fight to bring Sheni Segura Campos, 39, back from Guatemala.

Although Segura lost custody of her children years ago, she stayed nearby and in their lives.

FULL story at link.