Holding Joy With Loss
Earlier this month, we witnessed our client Diana* embrace her 14-year old son, Dennis, for the first time after being separated for nearly seven years. A longtime community mobilizer, advocate for children and mayoral candidate in her hometown, she fled her home country when Dennis was only seven years old because her life was repeatedly threatened by powerful and violent gang members due to her political views (which included eradicating gangs and gang violence), and her courageous advocacy. As soon as an immigration judge granted her asylum in late 2024, RILA began the process of applying for Dennis to join her and his younger sister in the United States. And it is an incredible gift for our team to see a mother reunited with her son and families together as they should be.
And yet just hours before this reunion, our staff accompanied another client to the airport under very different circumstances. Iris and her six-year old daughter fled El Salvador about five years ago after gang members brutally attacked her and threatened her entire family because they wanted her son to join their gang. Iris applied for asylum, attended her court hearings and complied with ICE’s supervision conditions. Additionally, ICE placed a GPS ankle monitor on Iris, which was often painful for her, even though Iris fully complied with all court and ICE requirements. Iris had no criminal history, and as a single mother who timely filed for asylum and had pro bono legal representation, she had done nothing to warrant being fitted with a GPS ankle monitor.
Over the past few months, Iris continued to think about her deteriorating health and how she increasingly felt unable to endure life in the United States where she felt afraid and vulnerable. For these reasons and because it had been several years since she fled from El Salvador, she made the extremely difficult decision to return to her home country. Iris was still afraid that she and her daughter could face serious danger in El Salvador, but she hoped things had changed enough that she could try again to make a life there. Two RILA staff members met Iris and her daughter at the airport and helped with luggage, brought gifts and walked with Iris and her daughter as far as they could go. ICE officers also met Iris and daughter at the airport, presumably to ensure they boarded their flight. The ICE officer did not remove Iris’s GPS ankle monitor until just before she boarded the plane. While this is not the outcome anyone had hoped for, we are so thankful that we could hug her and walk with her through the end of this chapter of her life.
In our work, we walk with families through their greatest joys and deepest disappointments. The only reason we can persevere in both compassion and hope is because we have a God who is committed to us, who sees us and walks with us in our own joys and suffering. We pray that this would encourage our entire RILA family during this season of Lent, while we wait in the dark for the light to come.
"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you." -Frederick Buechner