Under the Trump Administration, when children turned 18 in ORR custody, ICE would arrest them & take them to ICE detention centers. 2021 has brought a welcome change. This month @ImmDef has seen 5 cases of 18 years olds "ROR'd" (released on their own recognizance) by ICE.
Yesterday I got an urgent email from case managers at the Long Beach Convention Center ORR emergency shelter because they were concerned about what would happen to this just-barely-18-yr-old girl when ICE came, and they wanted her to talk to an attorney.
#TeamImmDef sprung into action. I rushed over to meet with her, let her call her mom, talk about her options and assure her that we'd be asking ICE to release her so she could go home to her mom. Meanwhile, my colleagues helped me put together a plan to get her to mom in NJ.
This morning Lindsay @L_Toczylowski & I were there for support as ICE processed her. When they were done, we had a flight booked for her (paid by @ImmDef) a bag full of goodies for the plane ride, & a volunteer from @LBIRC562 to drive her to LAX & make sure she got on the plane.
We went over her paperwork again, gave her some words of encouragement, a hug, and let her call her mom from my cell one more time before leaving. That was at about 11am today.
I just received a message from mom, she had just arrived in Newark. Mother and daughter are finally together. Tonight they hugged each other for the first time in 15 years. ♥️
I am so proud of my @ImmDef colleagues that jump into action when the children we serve need it most. We also couldn't do this work without support from our community & the donations that allow us to buy flights to reunite families. Thank you ♥️ immdef.org/donate
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