Mother’s worst nightmare punctuates event highlighting family separation at border
A 52-year-old undocumented woman from Tulare County knew her son would be killed if he was deported back to El Salvador almost three years ago. She was right.
Soon after her 32-year-old son was deported on Aug. 14, 2015, a group of men wearing masks stormed into a house where he was working and started shooting. Her younger son was with him, but was able to escape and alerted authorities.
Carmen shared her story about separated families under President Donald Trump’s Zero Tolerance immigration policy during an event on Saturday in Fresno dubbed Town Hall Summer. The gathering kicked off a series of similar events throughout the nation in the states of California, Texas, Arizona and Florida.
Carmen, who asked that she only be identified by her first name for fear of being detained and deported, is now reliving the same situation with her younger son.
The 30-year-old decided to make his way to the U.S. illegally to flee continued violence in El Salvador, but was detained at the border on May 14, along with his wife, 10-year-old son and 14-year-old nephew, who he took into his home after his brother was killed in 2015.
The four were all separated at the border when they were deployed to different Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions centers in May, Carmen said, but on Friday her 10-year-old grandson was released, and so was her daughter-in-law a few days earlier. There is no word on where her 14-year-old grandson is being held, though, and her son is facing deportation, despite passing a credible fear test, she said.
“They will kill him just like they killed my other son,” Carmen told The Bee in Spanish. “It’s very difficult. It’s like having a door, but not knowing where the exit is. The hope is that my son will be released.”
Under the controversial immigration policy, more than 2,000 children were separated from their parents at the border. Their parents face prosecution.
In June, Trump signed an executive order to end the separation of children from their immigrant parents following an outcry across the nation on the measure.
Marco Castillo, one of the organizers, said those behind the events, which are starting ahead of the November election, are citizens and organizations that are concerned with the country’s current climate on immigration and environmental policies. The group also believes the nation’s “democracy is at very high risk.”
Fresno was selected as a location to roll out the first event, Castillo said, because there are many organizations that are very spread out, its geographical location, and the region’s history of oppression.
“We thought Fresno would be a pivotal place,” he said. The next event is scheduled for Aug. 4 in Tucson, Ariz.
“Big change starts local,” Castillo said. “People have to understand the importance of being involved in local politics and getting involved.”
Julio Cesar, who was in an ICE detention center last year, spoke about his mistreatment while being held and the difficult conditions he had to endure. He, and his wife, traveled from Riverside County to take part in the event.
His wife almost suffered an abortion while being held, she said.
“This is a great way to encourage and ignite people to fight for better treatment of individuals in detention centers,” Molina added.
Samuel Molina, state director of Mi Familia Vota, one of the organizations that took part in Saturday’s event, said these kind of events are important because people get to hear stories from real people.
People can then take the issues to elected officials to take action.
“We need people to support our issues and things we care about,” he said.
There’s a lot of fear with the current state of immigration, Molina said. For example, he said, a couple in Delano who were afraid of being stopped tried to drive away from ICE agents but crashed and both were killed.
Carmen said she’s always fearful for herself as well, given that’s she’s been in this country undocumented for 10 years.
“You have fear for everything,” she said.