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An Australian woman is being deported from the US because her son punched a classmate and stole 53 cents, news.com reports.
Tracey Washington and her two sons, aged 13 and 5, will be kicked out on Friday under a controversial San Francisco policy that forced the city's juvenile authorities to turn the elder child over to federal US Immigration and Customs officials.
Mrs Washington moved to San Francisco from Melbourne in February last year to marry Charles Washington, 42, whom she met on holidays six years ago.
However, Mrs Washington and the boys were declared illegal immigrants in May after she missed the cut-off to apply for a green card. Mrs Washington claims immigration officials gave her the wrong deadline.
The problem only came to light after her 13-year-old son was arrested on suspicion of assault, robbery and extortion after a schoolyard incident in January.
San Francisco's hardline policy followed criticism the city was a sanctuary for illegal immigrants because it refused to report juveniles who were arrested on felony charges and suspected of being illegal immigrants to federal authorities.
The family's lawyer, Angela Chan, said the punch had been a joke, the other student was unhurt and the boy had apologised. The other student's parents had called police.
Mr Washington is unable to follow his new wife because of a custody agreement with his former wife for the care of their 12-year-old daughter.
The Australian Government has refused to intervene in the deportation.
