A Mother’s Day without Mom

by CAIR Coalition Staff

For what should be a celebratory and joyous day, this Mother’s Day for many mothers and their families will be a time of unimaginable pain and heartbreak. This is reality for Elena, a loving mother to two sons and a daughter. Elena won’t be with her children this Sunday.

Elena, her partner and their two children fled to the United States over ten years ago after the growing danger of violence in her home country of El Salvador. Elena gave birth to a third child several years later. While living in El Salvador, Elena’s partner was shot at work, leaving their family fearing for their lives.

Elena and her family found solace in the United States. Her children excelled in school, they became actively involved in church, and Elena found steady employment that allowed her to provide for her family. It wasn’t until a minor traffic accident, which was no fault of her own, that she came into contact with law enforcement.

After the accident, ICE issued an order of supervision, which required her to check in with them regularly. Elena faithfully complied and attended the check-ins each week. But under the new administration, everything changed.

In March 2017, Elena appeared for her ICE check-in the same as she had every week for years. Only this time was different. Without warning, Elena was detained and placed in an immigration detention center in Maryland. CAIR Coalition took on Elena's case, but despite our best efforts she was deported to El Salvador, separating her from her family and leaving her children without their mother.

The truth is that our work at CAIR Coalition can be heartbreaking. We don’t win every case and we can’t promise that families such as Elena’s won’t continue to be a target for this administration. Here’s what we can promise – we WILL fight back!

This Mother’s Day, we ask you to join us in fighting for equal justice for all immigrants like Elena. Your gift of $50, $100, $500 or $1,000 provides legal services for men, women, and children immigrants detained in the Washington, DC area. For the mothers that won’t get to spend the day with their family and for the mothers facing the loss of their loved ones to detention and deportation, we thank you for joining the fight to keep families together.

bW

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