By Viviane Faver
The new administration must dismantle Trump’s deportation machine and end family detention and separation.
Only in Pennsylvania, more than twenty-three black and Latino families, including 28 children, face hasty deportations. Due to the violence from which they fled, and are likely to die upon returning to their countries of origin.
In an exclusive interview with New York Beacon, Shut Down Berks Coalition coordinator Jasmine Rivera says the ICE hastened these illegal deportations during a goofy presidency, while the general public is distracted by the holidays. She affirms they refrain from using their discretion and choosing not to deport, which would be foreseeable vis-à-vis the global pandemic increase.
“There are 28 children and families detained in immigration prisons throughout the pandemic. They are being tracked by ICE for deportation and unfairly denied asylum. Families need to be free and safe, rather than being deported for the violence from which they fled.”
The Shut Down Berks Coalition claims that ICE is a dishonest organization that continues the deportation machine with impunity. With the Trump administration, ICE further intensified the abuse against immigrant communities, resulting in more than 500 children missing due to family separation and forced hysterectomies in ICE detention facilities.
Jasmine Rivera told the New York Beacon that these immigrants cannot return to their countries as they will die when they get there.
“A person from the Berks family prison in Haiti was arrested and raped during pregnancy after criticizing the Haitian government, causing a miscarriage due to torture. Another person in Berks had his entire family shot to death by the Haitian government and only succeeded escape because they were left to die in the attack “, says the coordinator.
The United States immigration system has targeted and abused immigrants for decades, disproportionately targeting black immigrants. ICE’s actions are not new to this government; however, the escalation is particularly inhumane under the current presidency. During Thanksgiving, ICE hastily deported an unknown number of Haitian families, and in October alone, ICE deported 1,300 families to Haiti in what its advocates now call Flights of Death.
Statements from Children facing deportation
Katherin, 14-years-old: “I don’t have the warmth of family anymore, I feel alone and sad because of everything that has happened in this place. I see so many people who arrive and leave and my mom and I remain here detained. Our lives are also in danger because of so many people who are infected with COVID-19. It hurts me to see that many kids like me are locked up even more because of COVID-19. They spend more time locked up in their rooms. Please, I implore you, I beg you, help us leave this place as soon as possible. I don’t want to spend another Christmas locked up here.”
Marjorie, 9-years-old: “In these simple words, [I ask] that you help my mom and me to leave and be able to reunite with my family in Los Angeles California. Please I don’t want to spend another Christmas or another birthday in this place without being able to play freely and with the fear of being deported. I ask you to know and understand our suffering, we have been locked up here for so long.”
Jhoselyn, 11-years-old and his sisters Zoe, 8 and Emily, 6: “We have been locked up here for 11 months already, we spent our birthdays here and it’s very hard. We don’t want to spend Christmas locked up here in this center. We can’t play freely or run because the guards yell at us not to. I can’t stand it anymore and I cry a lot… Please, I don’t want them to separate us. My sisters and I can’t go back to Ecuador either.”
Ashlee, 13-years-old: “I live with my mom and my 5 year old sister Camila, they are all I have… I don’t understand why life isn’t fair. We need to continue our lives as young people, study and be good people for society. Hopefully you will be able to understand and comprehend, or at least imagine how hard it is to be here for so long and they don’t let us leave. May God touch your hearts and have the authority to help us and get us out= of here together as one whole family. God bless your lives. What my family and I have lived here I don’t wish on your children nor on any child or young person.”
Juan David, 11-years-old: “I am detained with my mom. The 27th of this month, we will complete 15 months of detention. They asked me why I am afraid to return to my country. I’m afraid that the gangsters will hurt me, that they will kill me and my mom. That’s why I ask God to soften the hearts of the asylum officers and that I can go live with my aunt and uncle in New York… I want to have a normal life, make friends, go to a normal school, be with my family, living a normal life. Here, I always have a headache and anxiety.”
Neydi, 10-years-old: “I don’t remember much about my country anymore but when they threatened us a lot my mom brought me to the U.S. so that nothing would happen to me. But now we have been locked up for 14 months in this South Texas jail and I don’t want to be here for another Christmas, in this place where we can’t play freely. Please help me and my mom to leave this place and be able to spend Christmas with my family in North Carolina.”
Estuardo, 14-years-old: “I have been jailed here for 13 months together with my mom. I hope that whoever this letter reaches is having a good time and in good health, and that you can help us to leave this place as soon as possible because here there have been too many injustices against us. When I came here they told me that the longest I would be here was 20 days but we have now been here for 13 months without a single good answer… I am a calm and humble boy and I have hope in God that I will have the opportunity to stay in this country because we have suffered a lot in Guatemala. We can’t go back…”
