Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : MISCELLANY/ NEWSMAKERS AND MILESTONES

Victor Amador Garcia’s mother knew her 13-year-old son needed her help as he sat in a juvenile detention center in Tijuana. But there was little she could do.

“I cannot go because if I do, I am fearful that I won’t be able to come back,” said the woman, an illegal immigrant who refused to be identified.

Victor had been picked up in Orange by Immigration and Naturalization Service agents and deported. INS officials said they took him because he interfered with a sweep of undocumented workers in the area of Main Street and Almond Avenue by riding back and forth on his bicycle yelling, “la migra,” to warn others.

Victor, however, told a different story, claiming he was on his way to buy candy before going to school when he was stopped by the INS. He said he did not shout to anyone and that the street was empty.

Both sides agree that Victor lied to the agents to protect his mother. He told them his parents live in Mexico.

His mother, living in Orange with a 6-year-old daughter, has no job and little ability to help her son. She has wired $130 for bus fare to her other daughter, who lives in Veracruz, Mexico. Her daughter will travel to Tijuana to seek Victor’s release.