Freed parents frustrated kids are far away
EL PASO —Parents at a migrant shelter broke down in tears as they talked about being locked up and separated from their children and their struggle to be reunited now that they are free.
“I couldn’t say anything to him because he was taken away when he was asleep,” said a mother of a 4-year-old boy who gave only the name Miryam during a news conference Monday at Annunciation House, a shelter for migrants and refugees.
The shelter said the parents sharing their stories publicly were, for safety reasons, using only their first names. Thirty-two parents are staying at the shelter after criminal charges were dismissed and they were released from jail Sunday. The release is believed to be the first large one of its kind since President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that ended the practice of separating parents and children.
Five of the parents told their stories of separation during the zero tolerance crackdown that criminally prosecuted anyone crossing the border and sent parents to jail and children to shelters run by the Health and Human Services Department across the country.
Miryam said she was separated from her son on June 16, and the last words she heard from him were, “Good night, Mommy. I love you very much.” On Monday, she tracked him down at a shelter in New York with the help of a social worker. “Now, he’s angry and won’t come to the phone and speak to me,” she said, “because he thinks I abandoned him.”
Cristian, a father who fled Honduras with his 5-yearold daughter, said he was stunned when Border Patrol agents told him they were taking away his child. “The hardest part is being separated from her,” said the father, who was sent to the El Paso County jail for crossing the border illegally.
“You come to give your child a better life and more security and then …” He then hung his head to cry.
Ruben Garcia, director of Annunciation House, said the parents who were released from jail were told they would be reunited with their children at a shelter. Many believed that shelter was Annunciation House and were upset to find out their children were across the country.
“I felt tricked,” said Mario, a father of a girl who turned 10 on the day of the news conference and wanted to wish her a happy birthday but did not know how to find her. He called a toll-free number he was given to find her. “They never answer the phone,” Mario said. He said he hasn’t talked to her since they were separated 12 days ago.
The Department of Health and Human Services, the agency caring for children separated from their parents, said it has staff dedicated to reuniting parents. About 2,000 children remain in shelters and separated from their parents.
“We know where they are. We know which facility they are in and we know they will be connected with their parents,” said Mark Weber, a Health and Human Services spokesman, during a news conference in Tornillo on Monday outside a temporary shelter set up for teenage immigrant children.
The government tries to connect children with a parent, guardian or relative within 24 hours after the children arrive at HHS shelters, according to the agency.
“That is categorically false,” Garcia said during the news conference. “I have 32 parents who will explain otherwise,” he said, referring to the group staying at the Annunciation House shelter.
Reuniting parents can take time, according to Weber, because HHS has to vet the parent or other relative for the safety of the child.
“How can you say you’re concerned about the welfare of the children when you have heard what has happened to these parents, what has happened to these children when you take them away?” Garcia asked.