Jason, Gabriela, and Jade
“They never wanted to leave. ‘It is tough, but I have told my wife and daughter that we have to live now, because life may end tomorrow,’ said Jason. “Here we have known freedom. Here we get to prolong life a little bit longer.” — The Guardian
We are starting to see families trying to flee the U.S. due to fear and anxiety over being separated, detained, and disappeared.
The administration is forcing our neighbors, friends, and community members who have built a life here in the U.S. to make impossible choices to protect their families.
One of those families represented by RAICES was featured in The Guardian: “Trump is jailing immigrant families again. A mother, father and teen tell of ‘anguish on a daily basis’” by Maanvi Singh.
Click here to learn more about this family and RAICES’ fight to keep them together and free >>>
After escaping their native Colombia following grave threats, Jason and Gabriela, along with their now 13-year-old daughter Jade, made Mississippi their home.
Despite navigating the intricacies of our immigration system, they made a life for themselves in the U.S. and made this country their home. Jason works in construction, Gabriela cleans houses. Jade loves learning, going to school, and playing with her classmates. Her dad loves to brag that she has the best grades.
But the fear and anxiety cruelly inflicted by the administration on our immigrant communities across the country became intolerable for this family. Especially when they heard of the tragic death of Jocelynn Rojo Carranza, an 11-year-old little girl in Texas who took her own life after relentless bullying over her family’s immigration status.
As parents of a young girl of similar age, this story hit too close to home. Soon, Jade feared going to school because of news of ICE raids. It was clear that living in the U.S. without status under this administration posed a risk too great to bear.
So Jason and Gabriela packed everything they had and headed to the Canadian border to seek asylum. They were promptly handed over to the U.S. border agents. Handcuffed. Property confiscated. Paraded like criminals for their pursuit of safety.
Soon, they were in Texas, where they became one of the first families to be detained in a family detention center under the administration. Their friends and family had no way of knowing where they were or if they made it across the border because they weren’t given access to phones at first.
That’s when RAICES took on their legal case.
The good news: We’ve been able to secure their freedom, but their journey ahead is long and uncertain. Despite being back home in Mississippi, Jade is showing signs of trauma and distress. She doesn’t want to go back to school and is afraid that they won’t be able to stay in their home.
At RAICES, we are unwavering in our advocacy to keep families together and free and to protect our clients' rights, even as we face increasing hostility at both the state and federal levels. We believe that families like Jason, Gabriela, and Jade’s shouldn’t live in fear—neither in their home country nor in their new home in the U.S. That’s why we will fight for their—and everyone’s—right to due process.
