The drama of a mother to know where her migrant children are
María, a Honduran mother, an asylum seeker living in San Bernardino, lived a week in terror, without knowing the whereabouts of her two minor children whom she had brought from Honduras and lost track of them when crossing the Rio Grande and surrender to the immigration authorities on the southern border of the country.
It was the immigration lawyer, Francés Arroyo, whom she turned to desperate and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, who gave her the resources to locate them .
“I found out that they are in Texas, but I haven’t been able to talk to them and I don’t know exactly where they have them. The immigration agents only called me to speak with my 9-year-old sister Ester Yanet who is with them. They told me that she was very depressed and fainting. They gave me a minute to reassure her, ”she says.
Knowing that her children are in the hands of the Border Patrol brought her great relief. “I am already at peace. At least I know that they are safe and that nothing bad has happened to them. ”
A few weeks after President Joe Biden was sworn in as President of the United States, an exodus of unaccompanied children from Central America to the country. The minors arrive alone or in groups. Some of the children are only 1 year old. Only in February 9 entered, 400 minors, but until April 5, more were kept in custody 17, 000.
The challenge for Biden is to keep the children in a healthy environment while they are processed by immigration and handed over to their families who live in the country. But there are reports that they are crammed into cages.
María de 37 year-old who asked not to reveal his real name for fear that he affect your asylum process, you came to the United States 6 years ago. “I suffered domestic violence,” he says.
Mother of four children, who now have 16, 7, 10 Y 14 years, he left Honduras, carrying his youngest daughter. Much to their regret, the other children stayed with their father. “When I managed to cross the border, I was detained for a month and a half in a shelter, and for three years I lived with an electronic bracelet tied to my ankle.”