Written By Karina Aquiahuatl Villagran, Mosaic Intern for Hispanic, Latinx and Indigenous Student Engagement in Campus Life
91 days have passed since July 26, 2018.
That was the deadline set by Judge Dana Sabraw to reunite forcibly separated families who came mostly from Central America, seeking asylum in the US. per Judge Sabraw’s orders, children younger than five had to be reunited with their parents within 14 days and the rest of children within 30 days. As of late August 2018, 565 children still remain under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The ORR is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, charged with caring for unaccompanied immigrant children. Less than a quarter of the 565 children are not reunited with their parents due to safety concerns. For more than half of these children, reunification looks slim, as their parents were very likely tricked to undergo deportation to their home countries where dangerous conditions limit communication.
Let us keep in mind that 91 is exclusive of the days from October 2017 to June 27th, 2018—the time period in which more than 2,000 children were torn away from their parents. 2,000 screams humanitarian crisis, but just oneis just as cruel. Thinking about the trauma that these children and their parents likely face today due to their experiences at home, on their way here, and in the US is heart-wrenching. The common journey from Central America to the US is unspeakably distressing for all those courageous enough to start their lives over for better opportunities. People see and experience things that should never be done to a human being. These trauma-inducing experiences did not stop for the 2,000 children who came with their parents, and they certainly continued in the States through this separation.
If you can, try to imagine the impact that the separation of a family has on a parent. And a child? A family? A community? What does it say about us as a society, that family separation still happens without serious repercussions? Where is the justice for the parents who are likely crying at this very moment over their children who are living with strangers and not them?
(Spencer Platt, Getty Images, 2018)
Unfortunately, family separation is nothing new to the United States. This is an issue that has affected several different ethnic and racial groups in our society. Historically, the United States has separated countless children in the era of slavery and Jim Crow, Japanese internment camps, and boarding schools for Mexican and Indigenous/Native American children.
On my journey across the border with my then 12-year-old relative, I did not meet trauma. In fact, my relative demanded I wait for the trip to Maryland in a safer underground house. I was away from the men with whom he stayed where the chances of witnessing or experiencing human violations were high. I do not know trauma, and I wish these children didn't either.. However, I am well acquainted with the fears of family separation through the instability of DACA. Just the thought of family separation is haunting, so much so that I wake up with tears rolling down my face from nightmares about it. I cannot imagine what it must feel like for those who have been separated.
I sincerely hope that these children under ORR custody can lead lives with stability, forgiveness, resilience, and kindness despite the wrongs that they have experienced.