Suits filed to help Brazilian boys separated from fathers
Both families sought asylum after threats
CHICAGO – Two children from Brazil who were separated from their fathers after they tried to enter the U.S. to seek asylum have sued the federal government over the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy meant to dissuade undocumented migrants from attempting to make their way into the U.S.
The boys, ages 9 and 15, who along with their fathers were detained in separate incidents last month at the Mexican border, were flown to Chicago and placed in the care of Heartland Alliance, an organization that aids migrants, according to the lawsuits. They’ve asked the court to be reunited with their dads immediately.
The separate lawsuits, both filed by immigration advocates on their behalf in federal court in Chicago, describe the boys as fraught with fear and depression since being separated from their fathers weeks ago.
President Donald Trump signed an order Wednesday pledging the government will cease separating families detained at the borders, but his administration has not clarified whether it will reunite about 2,300 children separated
from their parents in recent weeks, leaving children such as the two boys in Chicago in limbo.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuits. Health and Human Services said that it was awaiting further guidance on the implementation of Trump’s executive order.
“Reunification is always the ultimate goal of those entrusted with the care of unaccompanied alien children, and we are working toward that for those unaccompanied alien children currently in our custody,” Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families bureau said in a statement.
The 9-year-old, who is identified in court documents as C.D.A., and his father were detained on or around May 23 when they tried to enter the U.S. The two fled Brazil because the father owed $10,000 to an organization engaged in human trafficking and didn’t have the money to pay them. Their intent was to seek asylum in the U.S., according to the lawsuit.
“Because he cannot pay this debt, he fears that if he is returned to Brazil, he and C.D.A. will be forced to work for the organization in indentured servitude,” according to the lawsuit. “(The father) does not believe he and his son could be safe anywhere in the country, as the group controls many people throughout Brazil. (He) could not go to the police for protection, because he believes the police will only help people with money.”
After two days of being held at a border facility, officials told the father that they would be separated for three to five days but was assured they’d be reunited, the lawsuit alleges. C.D.A.’s father – who is still being held at the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, New Mexico – has been unable to speak to the boy since they were separated.
Family in Brazil who have spoken to the boy report that he is “very scared, sad, and desperate to be reunited with his father,” the lawsuit says. The father maintains that they would be in danger if they returned to Brazil and is awaiting a credible fear interview with the U.S. immigration officers, an early step in the asylum process.
The older child, identified in court documents as W.S.R., and his father were told they would be separated for “two or three days, five at most” and that they would then be deported, the lawsuit says. Instead, the father is being held at West Texas Detention Facility in Sierra Blanca, Texas, and W.S.R. is in the care of Heartland Alliance in Chicago.
The two say they were seeking asylum in the U.S. after “the boss of a drug trafficking mafia threatened to kill” them. The drug boss believed that the two provided police with information that resulted in his arrest.
“From their one phone call, (the father) reports that W.S.R. is extremely unhappy and upset and is desperate to be reunited,” the lawsuit said.