At today’s Congressional briefing on American families in deportation, one of the speakers was Maria Perez, a mother of two whose husband Brigido was deported last year. You can watch Maria tell her heartbreaking story below, or read a version of it here.
As Maria said today about her husband’s deportation:
I just felt this was so unjust. My kids are US citizens; I’m a US citizen. So why are my kids being punished? At what point did deporting immigrants trump my rights as a US citizen, or my children’s’ rights as US citizens to lead fruitful lives? At what point did it become more important to deport a peaceful, productive human being than to let my children be happy and grow up with a father?
So the only thing I have left is to fight for immigration reform. I need my family back. My children need their father. I need my husband. And my family — my US citizen family — needs to stop being punished by their own government.
