Wow! Please know, all of you, that your support has blown us both away. When she returns, I will share her reflections of the lengths people will go, and the horrors they will endure, to be a part of the America that is still here, still strong, and always great. THANK YOU!
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To those asking how to help, you don't need a law degree or Bar card. Translation, transportation services, & far more are needed for the families & those there to help. I recommend using Google to identify organizations like
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Brief update. She is on the ground and completed training yesterday. Today met with 3 cases but I do not have details. However, she told me of how the volunteers sang Happy Birthday, many through tears, to a 10-year old boy who was without his parents. More updates as I have them
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UPDATE THREAD: I received this from her this morning w/ permission to share. "Day Four I cried a lot today. Today I overcame my nerves and really connected with my clients. I didn’t just interview the women – I connected with them." 1/
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"Each interview started with me welcoming the mothers & children to the United States. I think they were surprised to hear it–turns out, I’m often the first to welcome them. The children appreciate it the most. The United States sounded like a fairy tale before they arrived." 2/
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"Now that they are here, they cling desperately to this belief. I explain to the mothers and children that there are millions of Americans outside of the prison walls who also want to welcome them." 3/
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"I say that while I do not speak the language of their tongues, I speak the language of their hearts, and that I understand that they are here because they want a life where their children can be safe. Their eyes start to well up. I can tell we are connecting." 4/
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"One by one, I can tell the mother is starting to feel like she is finally in a safe space. Her kids color, and as she relaxes, so do they. The women told me about their journeys to the United States." 5/
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"Their stories were all so similar, and they reminded me of my grandparents’ stories – the ones they told me about escaping the Nazis and finding their way to safety. Like my grandparents, these mothers and children didn’t have food to eat or safe places to sleep." 6/
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"In fact, many didn’t even have space to lie down for nights on end. They told me about the river where angry and scary men wait to take their money and property, promising safe passage. The men often threw them off their tires and rafts before they’d get safely across." 7/
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"The mothers carried their young children through neck high water, terrified they’d fall and drown. Once they got here, they found ICE or ICE found them." 8/
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"They would tell the agent they can’t go back to their country of origin – that they sought sanctuary in the United States. But ICE took them to the hielera (Spanish for ice box), and despite the new regulations, often separated the mothers from their children." 9/
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"For a few nights, they’d sleep on cement floors. Next, they went to the perrera (Spanish for dog pound), where their food was given to them through a slot in a metal cage. I cried a lot today." 10/
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"Today I sat, and with the help of my interpreters, listened to their stories. Some made the painful decision to flee with only one or two of their children – these mothers left their babies and toddlers with family in their home country – ..." 11/
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"... not because it is a safe option, but because they knew it was the only way to save the children they fled with. The knew their babies would die during the journey north; they knew their special needs children wouldn’t be able to cross the river." 12/
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"I used the word “decision” not because I feel like they made a choice – but because I cannot think of any other word that describes the kind of fear that makes a parent leave a child behind. In each interview, I bore witness to the mother’s story, and then I spoke." 13/
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"If the woman was “lucky” (again, terrible choice of words for a terrible situation), I told her that she has a strong case, and that I thought the government would grant her release from detention." 14/
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"But all too often, I told the mother, within inches of her child -- that I wasn’t sure her case “fit” the asylum laws anymore. Because of the Attorney General’s guidance, claims based on domestic and gang violence are not necessarily considered credible grounds for asylum." 15/
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"The guidance poses serious concerns for how these claims will be interpreted, and therefore, the livelihood of women fleeing life-threatening situations in their home countries. I cried a lot today." 16/
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P.S. - I was patient in my original thread. But before ANYONE tries to say this is fake, I'm a "cuk," or question the integrity of my wife, do know I will not be so tolerant this time. If you are thinking of such a reply, also know, she is better than you, and think again.
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Confirmed yesterday that she brought back pneumonia. She was there for 1 week.
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End of conversation
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