Separated Families Get A Senatorial Promise

Maria Felicidad Guallan’s search for a better life came at a painful cost — leaving her son behind at the border. Now she’s scared of being separated from her young daughter as well.

Guallan and other undocumented immigrants told stories to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal Monday at JUNTA for Progressive Action on Grand Avenue about their children being taken away from them under President Trump’s crackdown.

Blumenthal in turn promised to bring their stories to Washington and push for a rollback of the Trump administration’s controversial policy of forcibly separating parents and children at the border.

Guallan, who is from Ecuador, wiped away her tears as she told of her son being forcibly stripped from her three months ago. She crossed the border seeking treatment for cervical cancer. Agents seized her 19-year-old son and deported him. Guallan made it through with her 3‑year-old daughter, for now. She fears the two of them will be separated as well.

“[It’s] a traumatic experience,” said Blumenthal, arguing that the new policy is based on ​“inhumanity and immorality.” Blumenthal said that these families are used as ​“pawns” for the ​“broken immigration system.” The Trump Administration argues that the policy serves as a deterrent to families considering crossing the border without permission.

“We are preparing ourselves for an influx of parents without children,” JUNTA Director of Advocacy & Community Engagement for JUNTA Paola Serrecchia said at Monday’s event. JUNTA helps immigrants to New Haven find housing, legal assistance, food, and medicine.

“We’re all human beings,” she reasoned. ​“It’s hurting the foundation of humanity” and it’s ​“causing trauma to an already traumatized family.”

“I came here to make work,” said Eduvino Garcia Sanchez, flanked by his wife Rosa Garcia. Sanchez and Garcia have been living in constant fear that their disabled child, who is a legal U.S. citizen, will be separated from them because of their undocumented status. ​“We need this help,” Sanchez pleaded to Blumenthal.

Looking at the immigrant faces filling the room, Blumenthal promised to commit ​“every ounce of energy” and ​“fiber of [his] being” to fight the ​“repugnant” immigration policy.

“I have a flight in two hours to Washington,” Blumenthal said with a glance at the clock. He said he’ll ​“meet with colleagues” over the course of the week to discuss a Democratic bill for immigration reform to ​“require families are kept together” unless there is ​“tangible, persuasive proof” that there were instances of trafficking or abuse to the children.

Blumenthal told the press that he is also planning a trip down to the U.S.-Mexican border in early July in order to see the immediate damage and immigration processes himself.

“History will judge harshly,” he concluded.