IN THE NEBRASKA COURT OF APPEALS MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT ON APPEAL (Memorandum Web Opinion) MEJIA RAMIREZ V. MERCADO BAUTISTA NOTICE: THIS OPINION IS NOT DESIGNATED FOR PERMANENT PUBLICATION AND MAY NOT BE CITED EXCEPT AS PROVIDED BY NEB. CT. R. APP. P. § 2-102(E). BLANCA REYNA MEJIA RAMIREZ, APPELLANT, V. LUCIO MERCADO BAUTISTA, APPELLEE. Filed May 26, 2020. No. A-19-908. Appeal from the District Court for Douglas County: GREGORY M. SCHATZ, Judge. Reversed and remanded for further proceedings. Anna D. Deal, of Immigrant Legal Center, an affiliate of the Justice For Our Neighbors Network, for appellant. No appearance for appellee. PIRTLE, BISHOP, and WELCH, Judges. BISHOP, Judge. The Douglas County District Court dissolved the marriage of Blanca Reyna Mejia Ramirez and Lucio Mercado Bautista and awarded full custody of the parties’ daughter to Blanca. Blanca sought specific findings of fact for purposes of special immigrant juvenile (SIJ) status under federal law. The district court declined to make such findings, and Blanca appealed. We reverse, and remand the cause for further proceedings. BACKGROUND Blanca and Lucio were married in Mexico in 1992. They have three children, a son and two daughters. On July 12, 2018, Blanca filed a complaint for dissolution of marriage from Lucio, who resided in Mexico. She sought custody of the parties’ two daughters, born in 2000 and 2009; the parties’ son was no longer a minor affected by the divorce proceedings. In addition to seeking -1- custody of the children, Blanca sought an order finding the children’s reunification with Lucio was not viable due to abuse, abandonment, and neglect, and that a return to Mexico was not in the children’s best interests. On December 14, 2018, Blanca filed an ex parte motion for temporary custody of the children. In support of the motion, both Blanca and her counsel filed affidavits. In her affidavit, counsel stated the children would like the opportunity to apply for SIJ status with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service under federal law. According to counsel, as part of the SIJ status process, a state court is asked to provide findings pursuant to Neb. Rev. Stat. § 43-1238(b) (Cum. Supp. 2018) that reunification with the child’s parent(s) is not viable due to the abuse, neglect, or abandonment the child has endured, and it would not be in the child’s best interests to be returned to the home country; the state court order permits the child to file an application for SIJ status with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service. Counsel also provided information on violence against women in Mexico. In her affidavit, Blanca provided information regarding the abuse that Lucio subjected the children to, and stated that the children were present when Lucio was violent and threatened her. Blanca stated that she fled to the United States in May 2016 after learning that Lucio planned to kill her. Blanca feared that if her daughters returned to Mexico they would “face extreme danger and possibly death at the hands of [Lucio] or ...
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