A new method of detaining and deporting immigrants seems âengineered to lead to family separation,â one advocate told HuffPost.
A mother was forced to leave her 6-month-old with her sister when she was deported and flown to Honduras. By the time she landed, her sister had also been detained â and she had no idea where her child was.
A father begged immigration agents for one phone call when he was detained at work because his child was with a babysitter. He made the call, and the babysitter was able to stay a few extra days, but he was deported without his child.
A 22-year-old pregnant woman in Florida was picked up by immigration agents while traveling in Louisiana and detained for a month before being deported without her 2-year-old daughter. âThey didnât ask me anything. They didnât talk to me, just to yell at me, to humiliate me. They never told me, âYou have a daughter, you can bring her,â because I would have brought her to [Honduras], she is glued to me,â she said.
Another woman was detained while dropping off her son, who is disabled, at school. âHe doesnât even know that I was deported,â she said, adding that she was never given the option to bring him with her.
These are just some of the stories immigrants deported from the United States to Honduras told the Womenâs Refugee Commission, a nonprofit organization that interviewed people as they arrived. Every day for the last year, at least 300 immigrants have landed at La Lima airport, many without their children â and without knowing where their kids are or who is taking care of them.
