OKLAHOMA CITY – A Mexican woman who had lived in Enid for more than two decades was scheduled for deportation recently after her fourth arrest for illegal entry into the U.S.
Beatriz Adriana Diaz-Chavez is a co-owner of rental property in Enid – which resulted in her latest arrest.
Diaz-Chavez, 40, was arrested by the Enid Police Department on June 27, 2020, on nine traffic violations.
She pleaded guilty Aug. 14, 2020, to driving while intoxicated, transporting an open container of an alcoholic beverage, driving without a valid license, and failure to maintain insurance verification. The other five charges were dismissed.
She also pleaded guilty that day to a felony charge filed less than a week earlier: unlawful use of another person’s identifying information.
Garfield County District Judge Dennis Hladik assessed a five-year suspended sentence.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed a detainer on Diaz-Chavez after her arrest in Enid and deported her from Texas to Mexico on Sept. 22, 2020.
Less than a month later Diaz-Chavez was arrested in Enid again, on a warrant for failure to pay fines and court costs on the Garfield County convictions.
Diaz-Chavez co-owns several rental properties in Enid with her sister and had returned from Mexico because one of her tenants hadn’t paid rent or utilities for six months, her attorney told U.S. District Judge Patrick Wyrick. When Diaz-Chavez “approached the renters to collect what she was owed,” they “called the authorities on her,” knowing she was in the U.S. illegally, the attorney related.
Diaz-Chavez told the court she entered the U.S. when she was 17 and had lived in Enid for 23 years, but apparently made no attempt to become a naturalized citizen. She and her husband went through a “contentious” and “ugly” divorce in 2017, her attorney said. She told the court she has four children, ages 1, 10, 13 and 19.
With her elder son interpreting for her, Diaz-Chavez told Wyrick she plans to move her family back to Mexico, where she has a brother and can take care of her ailing, elderly mother. Wyrick on March 4 sentenced Diaz-Chavez to time served (four months and 12 days) and remanded her to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Records indicate her Garfield County convictions were settled when Diaz-Chavez paid $6,499 in fines, fees and assessments, including $1,862 for the 49 days she was confined in the Garfield County Detention Center.
Court records weren’t clear about whether the deadbeat squatters paid their debts or were evicted.