Guatemalan Family Reunites in New York City

It was dawn on June 1st when Pao and her petite 15-year-old daughter climbed a fence, entered the United States in San Luis, Arizona and asked for help. Pao is a nickname — her family fears deportation and wants to remain anonymous. The 38-year-old said, for legal reasons, she can’t say why she left her homeland, Guatemala. At the U.S. border with Mexico she hoped for a humanitarian response. Instead, she said she was told she broke the law and her daughter would be taken away.

"I knew that what I was doing wasn’t correct," Pao said in Spanish. "I also knew that we have the right to ask for help when we need it. But they didn’t see it that way and they separated us from our kids."

Like many of the women who’ve described the conditions at the border, Pao said she and other mothers were held in rooms they nicknamed the ice box with only an aluminum sheet for cover. At night, they slept on the floor. She said the worst part was when Border Patrol officers told a group of mothers they would be deported and their kids would remain in the U.S.

"We suffered a lot," she said. "It’s really hard to hear something like that."

Once she was taken away, Pao’s daughter, Eli, said she felt scared. She looks much younger than her 15 years and at one point while being interviewed, she climbed on her mom’s lap.

"I was always with my mom wherever she went," Eli said in a shy, soft voice. "So it was really painful when they separated me from her."

The teenager was sent to a shelter in Houston, Texas. She was given a light blue uniform. There were math and science classes and sometimes she got to play outside for an hour. She made friends with young girls from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. The ones who arrived at the border alone didn’t cry for their moms like she did. Eli said the days passed slowly.

"I wanted to get out of there. I wanted to see my mom," Eli said. "I missed her a lot. Sometimes I wouldn’t sleep thinking that I would never see her again." Her voice trembled with emotion.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol has not responded to a request for comment about the conditions the Pao and Eli said they experienced while in detention.

Eventually, Eli got lucky. Her father had been living in New York City for the last 13 years, and her mom gave his number to an immigration officer who called and explained the situation. The dad, Adolfo, said he was scared at first because he’s undocumented but he wanted to fight for his family so he gave the government all the information they requested.

"They wanted to know my line of work, where I lived, how I lived," he said. "Did I drink or do drugs? Do I have a record? Thank god since I’ve been here I’ve never had trouble with the law."

Adolfo is a construction worker. He does siding and repairs roofs. He said a caseworker helped guide him through a complicated process to obtain his daughter. After several weeks, one afternoon he got a call requesting that he send $1,950 via Western Union to pay for plane tickets for her. He hesitated worrying it was a scam. In the end he took his chances and wired the money anyway.

"It’s a lot but like I said, money isn’t important for me," he said. "What’s important is my family."

Adolfo's daughter arrived the next day. Even though he hadn’t seen her since she was two, they felt connected. For more than a decade they had been talking on the phone or face timing each other. Adolfo admitted over the years it was hard and there were days when he promised to call but didn’t because he was too tired from work. Still, the family spoke two-to-three times per week. 

"I’m happy that she’s here with me, and her mom too," he said.  "It’s something I never imagined could happen."

Pao spent a month in detention. She was moved around a lot but ended up in Eloy detention center in Arizona where she met Yeni Gonzalez-Garcia, a Guatemalan woman who garnered the support of two New York City women who've been championing detained mom's with kids held in New York.

"I'm sending a message to all those mothers, keep fighting, because with the help of all these people and the help of god, you're going to be successful," she said surrounded by reporters.

New Yorkers responded to Yeni's call by raising money to get migrant mother's out of detention and reunite them with their kids. Pao was one of them. Activists raised $15,000 for her bond and found people to drive her cross country. She said she passed through Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Chicago, Michigan, Pennsylvania, I can't remember anymore all the cities we went," Pao said. Each leg of the trip was with a different family. 

She was grateful for the help. The gestures of kindness helped change her mind about the U.S.

"Because when I was detained I thought there was no humanity here," she said. "They made us feel like we weren’t worth anything."

Mother and daughter are still trying to determine whether to apply for asylum. Many people from Central America come here to flee gang violence, police corruption and domestic abuse. But recently the Trump Administration said those claims don't necessarily qualify for asylum.  Immigration Attorney Jan Brown said it's a difficult time for immigrants to seek refuge in the U.S.

"The pendulum is swinging...in a very restrictive direction," he said. "The wall that President Trump wants to build is being built invisibly with actions such as tightening the restrictions on letting people into the country through the asylum process or through other processes as well."

According to the Department of Homeland Security, more than 65,000 people sought what's called defensive asylum in 2016, which means they were facing deportation proceedings. Less than 700 of those who were successful were from Guatemala.

Since they arrived in New York City, Pao and Eli haven’t left their neighborhood. They haven't even ridden the subway. Money is tight. The nearly $2,000 Adolfo spent for a plane ticket set the family back. But once there’s money again, they have plans to explore the city. Mother and daughter are eager to see Central Park. 

For now, they'll enjoy the simple pleasures of being a family. On Monday, Pao cooked a traditional Guatemalan soup for her husband for the first time.

"I couldn't get enough," he said.