Recent deportation arrests have affected more than a million undocumented immigrants in California and their families, and terrified people like Lilia who are trying to prepare their families for the worst-case scenario I feel it.
Lilia, who asked to be identified by her unsafe name, was a mother of seven, a grandmother of two, and an undocumented grandmother in the United States since 1988. I also have a husband.
The ongoing deportation operation from ice across the country has led Lilia to have to sit with her family to prepare for the possibility.
“Yeah, we have to talk about it because it might happen, but we need to prepare,” Lilia said.
Not only is her mother afraid that she will be sent after living in the US for many years, but even leaving her child behind, some of it has special needs.
“As a mother, I’m afraid that I’ll be deported and that my kids will be able to enter the system,” Lilia said. fear. “
According to a Pew survey, patriarchs appear to be 45% of undocumented immigrants in the United States, and have lived in the United States for more than 20 years. The same study states that California has nearly 20% of the total undocumented population.
“We’ve been here for a long time. We pay taxes. We’re good people. Lilia said, “We’ve been here for a long time.
During the Obama administration, Lilia tried to revise immigrant status, but realized that in order to do so, she would have to return the entire family to Mexico to begin the process.
Her children were under 18 at the time, and kept her away from decisions, living without permission for another 12 years in a total of 36 years.
Like many undocumented families, Lilia knocks on the door and worries about taking away the ice. She knows that the focus of the current ice operation is on immigrants with criminal history, but she knows the “collective arrests” of many undocumented immigrants like hers who have no criminal history. I said.
ICE reported 48% of these collateral arrests on January 26 alone.
It was horror that it captivated not only Lilia’s family, but also hundreds of thousands of social families like Lilia, who have no criminal history.
“I want my children to grow up without fear of stress, parents being deported and families being separated from the best place for them.
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