Family Reunification Bring Our Deported Home
Maria Perez
Stephanie Vergara-Johnson
Family of the week
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I'm a State of Illinois employee for the dept. of Human Services so I had seen first-hand the devastation a deportation caused to a family. My clients would come to me telling me they had lost their jobs and homes, they're children were acting up, etc. It never even crossed my mind that my family could be next, but we were. I'm a U.S. Citizen and so are my 2 children so I thought we were safe. I was wrong on 10/16/13 three ICE officers came to my home and detained my husband on an immigration warrant. He was detained for 30 days and deported on 11/19/13.When he was first detained I honestly thought there was no way he could be deported. I went into fight mode. I spoke to every organization I could find, every congressman who would listen, but nothing stopped his deportation. His deportation left me a single mother of a 3 year old and 13 year old. I lost my apartment and had to move in with my parents. I work over an hour away from home and there's no way for me to make it work on time and get my 3 year old to school so now my elderly mother has to get my son ready for school and drop him off and pick him up. My elderly parents, who are also US citizens, have had to turn their world upside down in order to help me with my kids.My daughter has gone through severe depression resorting to cutting up her arm in order to deal with the pain of losing her step-dad. She's been partially hospitalized once and admitted to the ER once. Do you realize the kind of emotional pain she's been going through? She would rather cut up her arm 30, 40, 50 times instead of feeling her emotional pain. My son has completely withdrawn into himself. His father was his everything, he was definitely a daddy's boy. He's very afraid of authority figures probably because he was home alone with my husband when the ICE officers came into our home. I was amazed at how these public servants treated me and my family, being one myself I knew how important it was to treat the community with respect. They treated us worse than animals and at one point I actually had to tell one of the officers that I was a U.S. citizen and demanded to be treated with respect. My family now attends weekly meetings with a social workers who's trying to help us deal with our loss. We have filed for a humanitarian parole and just found out a couple of weeks ago that DHS has lost our packet, unless one of my congress people can get through to them, we will need to start the process all over again. I often wonder if they're doing this on purpose.I wake up every day hoping this nightmare will be over soon. That my children can stop crying themselves to sleep. That I can get my life back.. To help Maria's family and the millions affected by deportation please contact your Senator Representative in you state and tell them to promote H.R.2095 and reunite families of the deported.
My name is Stephanie Vergara-Johnson, I'm a United States Citizen, my husband was deported on September of 2011, I was left with a 7 week old baby girl and a 2 year old son. I made the decision to keep my family together and move to Morelos, Mexico with everything that I could fit into my car. We arrived in Mexico on Christmas Eve. My two year old son, my daughter and I were so happy to see him finally and be reunited as a family. We lived a very simple life in Mexico, in a poor town. Out of honesty, I had to potty train my 2 year old as there was not enough money for diapers for two children. I washed soiled underwear 2-3 times a day for about 6 months. On many occasions my little girl and son didn't have any milk to drink. We had times where we only had tortillas and water to drink. What a way to live and bring my children up, it literally broke my heart to see my children hungry, it broke my heart to see my husband feel like a failure because he could not support his family. My daughter even spent time without shoes because we did not have money to buy a simple pair of shoes. In total I spent 15 months in Mexico. And then I had bad news from Minnesota, my mom had been really sick. And I knew in my heart she wasn't going to make. I begged my husband that I needed to go back to see my mother in her final days. He sold our house so me and our children could come back to Minnesota to stay by my mother's side. Leaving Mexico and my husband behind was very painful, on March 2013 we went back to the USA. My mother passed away about 10 days after I came back. Not having my husband to hold and support me when my mother passed left me empty, numb and cold. After losing my mother, my children and I (now 4 and 2) were left homeless and nobody wanted to help us. We slept in different churches with other homeless families for 6 months. Finally I found a family shelter that would take us in. It broke my husband's heart to know we didn't have anywhere else to go and he was left to hear about his family suffering. And I can say I've never felt so hopeless and depressed in my life. And here it is 27 months after I came back to Minnesota, I still feel heartbroken every day. Depressed everyday Only to name a few of the emotions I go through daily, Not to mention I can't hold down a job and focus with my family being torn apart. My family is now reduced to going to therapy daily as well to deal with the pain. Most days I just barely get through the day. I would just like my family to be whole again and make the pain, anguish, depression and anxiety go away. My kids just want their Papa to be here to love them, give them hugs and kisses and be a family once again. To help Stephanie's family and the millions affected by deportation please contact your Senator Representative in you state and tell them to promote H.R.2095 and reunite families of the deported.
Bridgett Sanders
My name is Bridgett Sanders, my husband's name is Diego Perez Lopez we have been married for 15 years and the last five of those years he has been deported. We have three girls together and when he was deported it tore our family apart....I was a stay at home mom with very little skills in the work field. We had to move out of our apartment due to me not being able to find work right away and a lot trying to pay for lawyers for my husband. My kids where there when he was arrested and for the longest time they blamed me because they were so little (ages 5, 4, 2). I have paid so much money to lawyers and paper work I really don't have any left plus I'm a single mom trying to raise my kids alone now. But I will not give up hope that one day our family will be back together, and their dad can catch up on all stuff that he has missed out on( birthdays, first days of school, graduations, milestones) Thank you for reading my story it starts with a few people being brave enough to fight.
To help Bridgett's family and the millions affected by deportation please contact your Senator Representative in you state and tell them to promote H.R.2095 and reunite families of the deported.
You know it's hard to get woke up to the news of your spouse getting taken by immigration from work.
It's hard to explain to your son that daddy won't be home for a while. The cries from him because he misses his daddy and wants him home so they can play..
It's hard to fall asleep at night when your so use to your spouse being there. The sound of their snore that once seemed so annoying is now something you would love to hear. The separation anxiety your 9 month old is going through because that crazy man didn't come home to play with her before he put her to sleep. Your spouses presences at night was something that consoled you. It made you feel secure.
Now you have the fear of no matter the outcome they're not even safe at work. They're not safe in your own home.
Families being ripped apart for simple things like a seat belt or for something they was completely innocent over..
Your baby turns one suppose to be a joyous day but instead you fight the tears because you know how bad her daddy wished to be there and because of immigration he misses his baby girls first birthday.
He seen her first steps but he never got to witness her being able to see her walk like the boss she thinks she is.
and the fact that not only did he get to miss everything that our children have learned in the last few months or partake in big days for our children.
October 27th is our anniversary and he will be earning his 5$ for the day picking radishes just to go home for us the talk over the phone instead of us spending the day together celebrating our marriage..
And in two months it's Christmas our kids will be without their father on Christmas morning so when they wake up... they won't have daddy there to help set up their toys or play with them.. instead our son gets to explain to daddy all the stuff he gets and what it does and talk about how he can't wait to show him and play with him..
Immigration may seem like a good thing to some people but in reality it causes grief, depression, anxiety... it hurts people to the point of several mental break downs.. it has parents missing important milestones in their kids lives..
ICE will not keep my family apart for I will fight till my death to keep my family together..
I love and miss my husband my best friend my other half... Moyo J Frutos
