It is known that families are separated when the parents or guardians of a child are found to be illegal immigrants, but what is not so commonly known, is that the parents are forced or tricked into giving up their children’s rights. In the article“Migrant parents were misled into waiving rights to family reunification, ACLU tells court” (Schmidt) Samantha Schmidt tells the stories of many that have fallen down this path without knowing it and how they are fighting for help.
In one case, a Guatemalan father whose primary language was a Mayan language named Akatek, was surprised to find out he had signed away his rights to ever meet up with his eight-year old daughter. This father did not speak English,“barely understands Spanish and is completely illiterate.” (Schmidt) Instead of helping him find a translator, though, immigration officials had the father sign papers taking advantage of the fact that he did not understand anything he was signing.
According to the article, some parents were actually told that signing the papers would result in them seeing and reuniting with their children once more, but were obviously lied to. Other parents were crowded into a room with other people and only given a few minutes to sign everything with no further explanation. “They signed the forms out of fear, or confusion, or a belief that they had no other choice” (Schmidt) explained several lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union. As stated in the article, Schmidt goes on to further explain how the parents were basically forced to sign the papers because if not, they threatened that they would no longer be able to see their children anymore. Of course, no parent wants that to even be a possibility, so they ultimately signed.
These testimonies and more were all used in a lawsuit again the U.S. government’s constant separation of migrant families at the border. The court file simply stated that reunited families should be given more time to stay in the U.S. before the government decides to deport them. The ACLU believes families should have at least a seven day period together in which they decide whether they want their children to be deported with them, or if they will stay and seek asylum while the parents are deported.
The Trump administration had been putting an effort to reunite majority of the migrant families which were separated by the time of the court hearing. "The government said it had reunited 1,012 parents with their children of the 2,551 who were separated." This, in fact, is an effort yet the Trump administration still faced some backlash because of other questions still not answered. The burning question was how many of the migrant parents had already been deported or if they are released or still in federal custody. There was some migrant parents who were known to have already been deported without their children, but according to the Trump administration, it was only with their consent, which was written down.
All in all, separating families at the border is unjust. It leave the families ultimately traumatized. When having to deal with these cases and find an immigration lawyer, it leaves the parents to always second guessing and having to be reassured that they are, in fact, there to help them. The most important thing these parents really want is to not be separated from their children. As one father told Govindaiah, an immigration lawyer,"But as long as I'm with my son, I'll be alright. I'll be with my son that whole time, right?" (Schmidt)
Reference:
Schmidt, Samantha ““Migrant parents were misled into waiving rights to family reunification, ACLU tells court”
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