Washington, DC – Below is a column by Maribel Hastings from America’s Voice en Español translated to English from Spanish. It ran in several Spanish-language media outlets earlier this week:
A new poll by the Economist/YouGov tracker found that support for President Donald Trump’s immigration policies continues to decline, with 40% approval and 53% disapproval. It concluded that American voters want a balance between enforcing the law and avoiding this administration’s excesses.
Every day, new examples emerge of the cruelty of these excesses and the—sometimes fatal—consequences of their campaign of de-legalization, detentions and deportations.
A few days ago, it was reported that a 5-year-old boy, Liam Tadeo, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) along with his father as they were on their way to a soccer game in Austin, Texas. Images of Liam crying and clinging to his father’s handcuffed hands caused an uproar. ICE sent both to the controversial Dilley detention center.
Liam’s father, Víctor Martínez, asked ICE to send the boy to be with his mother, who is also undocumented, but his request was denied. To prevent them from being separated, Víctor signed a voluntary departure agreement along with Liam, and they were deported to Mexico, where they were dropped off about 20 hours away from the town where their family lives in the state of Guanajuato.
CNN en Español visited the house. Víctor declined to be interviewed, and Liam does not come out because, according to his relatives, he is traumatized by the experience. “When people come, he thinks they’re police officers coming for him and hides,” said Fátima, Liam Tadeo’s aunt.
The piece captures the poverty, hardship, and lack of work that drive people to leave everything behind, put their lives in the hands of coyotes, and cross into the United States to join a workforce where they are key contributors to U.S. economic growth.
Víctor worked in construction, for example—one of the sectors hardest hit by labor shortages due to detentions and deportations. This, in turn, is reflected in rising production costs and, consequently, increases in housing prices, as documented in America’s Voice’s analysis, End the ICE Tax.
“Liam should be completing his second week in kindergarten in the United States. This case highlights the cruelty of our immigration policies where a young child who has spent more than half of his life in the United States is unnecessarily detained with his father and deported without being able to say goodbye to his mother,” said Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, the attorney for Liam Tadeo’s family, in a statement.
Another policy that is cruel to individuals and families and harmful to the U.S. economy is the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of several countries. One of the most affected groups is Haitians, as 350,000 people lost their work permits and protection from deportation, leaving them vulnerable to being sent back to a country where chaos and gang violence reign.
Various media outlets reported that Pierre Damas Bel, a 20-year-old who recently graduated from high school in Ohio, got out of his car in the middle of the highway and walked into oncoming traffic, where he was struck and killed. His death is being investigated as a possible suicide.
Damas Bel was one of those 350,000 Haitians who lost their TPS. He was fitted with an electronic ankle monitor while remaining in the United States. “I came to this country to pursue my education, I didn’t come here to commit a crime or hurt anyone. Yet now I’m walking through the streets of the United States with a GPS monitor on my leg, carrying a feeling of shame and humiliation that I never imagined I would experience,” the young man wrote on social media.
These Haitian workers perform all kinds of jobs in the United States, ranging from doctors and nurses to home care aides. And now they face deportation to a country plagued by violence.
A week ago, one of the most violent massacres took place when gang members vying for control of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, attacked a camp for displaced people, killing 47 people—22 of them inside the church where they had taken refuge.
Only a few days remain before the anticipated end of TPS for 170,000 Salvadorans, 25 years after it was first granted.
There are also deportations to African countries where the deportees have no connections. It was claimed that they were immigrants with criminal records. Reports indicate that many are asylum seekers with no criminal record.
In August, ICE arrests reached 50,000, according to a report by NBC News, surpassing the number for July.
They’re not just breaking numerical records. They’re breaking records for cruelty.
The original Spanish version is here.
