Plano Man Fights To Stay In U.S. As Human Trafficking Victim
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PLANO (CBSDFW.COM) - Adam Lieber,28, of Plano worries he could be deported back to the Philippines where he was born.
His legal troubles began in 2010 when he was arrested for DUI. Authorities realized he was undocumented and said he'd have to leave the country.
Lieber says, "I'm still scared. It still terrifies me."
He says he was adopted when he was just 11-months-old. But now, Lieber believes the adoption was a sham, and that he is a victim of human trafficking. "It's very difficult to try to understand that I was trafficked over here, believing I grew up the U.S. as a regular child."
Lieber believes this after finding documents in his mother's apartment when she died last year. He and his immigration advocate Ralph Isenberg of Dallas say this Philippino birth certificate is a fake after discovering this document listing his birth mother from a Philippino social worker who opposed the adoption.
Isenberg says, "The sad thing is she went to her grave not showing me or not showing Adam the truth."
On the advice of an immigration attorney, Lieber intially agreed to leave the U.S., but then asked to stay temporarily. Isenberg says because they believe Lieber was a victim of human trafficking, he is now eligible by law to stay in this country. "It's not against his mother, it's against a system, it's against a person because his mother couldn't have gotten this done all alone."
Lieber says the situation doesn't change the way he feels about his mother. "I still love her the same."
He still mourns the only mother he's known. "Took a big part of my heart to lose somebody I loved very much."
Just last month, Lieber filed an application for a stay of deportation or removal. He hasn't heard yet. After submitting the application, he now has to wear on ankle monitor all over again, three and a half years after it was first removed.
Lieber says, "It angered me."
He says if he is deported, he has no family in the Philippines, and doesn't know anyone. "If I were to go back, I would be completely lost."
We requested information from ICE about Lieber's case Wednesday, but we haven't received it yet.
In the meantime, Lieber has asked the Philippino government to intervene on his behalf, and that country is investigating.
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