The 11-year-old from Venezuela was alone in his Texas home, waiting for his mother, who had been detained by US immigration officials. She would never come back. The boy, Emmanuel Leandro Caicedo Venecia, ended up living by himself for three months this summer, attending school, even walking to his fifth-grade graduation to collect his diploma, his mother said. A neighbour brought food, but Emmanuel mostly fended for himself.
His mother had decided it had to be this way. Afraid that her son would be placed in foster care, she had made a choice while in detention: she lied to immigration officials, she said, telling them that Emmanuel was being taken care of by an adult. She was deported to Venezuela without him in late July, with Emmanuel eventually moving in with an acquaintance.
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