Legal battle underway over teenage Mayan migrant who was allegedly tricked into giving up his newborn twins

San Antonio — SAN ANTONIO – Through my work on immigration, I have learned a lot about the Mayan Indians from Guatemala who came to the United States as immigrants. Many of their stories are sad, but that of 17-year-old Karina is one of the saddest. She claims her twin daughters were stolen from her in a fraudulent adoption she never wanted.

“I feel like my heart is empty. I want to be strong, but I can't anymore because I have an emptiness in my heart,” Karina said.

Now lawyers in San Antonio are fighting their case to get the children of Mayan heritage back.

Karina tells us that she came to the United States with her parents when a man in her village wanted her to marry his much older son. She was only 12 and was receiving death threats.

Separated from her parents at the border in Eagle Pass, Karina stayed with an aunt in Texas.

After a few years here, Karina had a daughter who is now 18 months old. Mayan Indians start their families very early. The average age is between 15 and 19 years, according to statistics from the Guatemalan government.

Karina has a two-year-old child. When she found out she was pregnant again with twins, her attorney, who works for a national nonprofit, told her she needed to get help from a Houston nonprofit for the twins she was expecting.

When she handed over the documents, the nonprofit organization and a notary from the adoption agency were in the room with the papers. Karina had already declared that she did not want to give up her babies. The women pressed her and asked her to initial only a few pages. And this only 30 minutes after the twins were born.

“They told me I had to sign some papers because the babies were born prematurely,” said the teenager from the Mayan region.

A few hours later, Karina said, a white couple she had never seen before came into her room and she asked a nurse who they were. That's when she got the shock of her life.

“The nurse told me there was nothing she could do. You signed documents and gave your daughters up for adoption…”

The nurse told the 17-year-old that she had agreed to give up her twins. Karina says she repeatedly told the nurse and anyone who would listen that she had not given her babies up for adoption.

According to Renee Gellin, executive director of the nonprofit Save Our Sisters, Texas allows minors like Karina to give their children up for adoption.

“In Texas, a minor who gives birth to a child is immediately a parent and can actually sign waivers. The only recourse a mother would have in these states would be to go to court and prove fraud and/or coercion. Fraud would be very difficult because these adoption agencies know exactly what they are doing,” Gellin said.

In Texas, the mother must wait at least 48 hours after the birth before giving her consent, after which it must be signed by two witnesses and notarized by someone authorized to administer oaths. According to Karina, however, that is not her signature.

She admits that three women from the adoption agency and the nonprofit organization were in her postpartum room, urging her to put her initials. Again, Karina thought she was just putting her initials so the twins, who were born prematurely, could stay in the hospital. She had already picked out their names.

“I carried my babies for nine months. I had hope for their future,” Karina said.

Fernando Fernandez of the Cesar Ornelas law firm in San Antonio is assisting the Guatemalan consulate with the case.

“We are trying to help her, through the consulate, through different agencies and in every way possible. The system is not working. So she filed a report with the police. Nobody contacted her, nobody told her what to do,” Fernandez said.

Karina went to the hospital several times to see her children, and during one of these visits she happened to meet the adoptive mother.

“She asked me why I gave the twins up for adoption and I told her I never would have done that. They took them away from me,” Karina said.

The young Maya woman said she begged the Dallas adoptive mother to give her the babies back. Karina claims the woman refused.

“The truth is, I'm sad, but I have to fight for my other child because she needs me.”

The twins' father is in Guatemala and cannot come back. She says the babies mean the world to both of them.

“They mean a lot to me. I remember them, but I can't do anything for them.”

But she has to keep fighting for them. She wanted to send a message to her children in case she doesn't get them back.

“I love her very much and if I get her back, I will never let anyone separate her from me.”

The adoptive parents live in the Dallas area. Attorneys for the Maya teenager told us a report has been filed with Homeland Security Investigations. We will continue to follow this story.