{"id":609782,"date":"2018-08-02T15:22:43","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T21:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=609782"},"modified":"2018-08-03T12:23:02","modified_gmt":"2018-08-03T18:23:02","slug":"she-got-her-baby-back-from-immigration-foster-care-now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/08\/she-got-her-baby-back-from-immigration-foster-care-now-what\/","title":{"rendered":"She got her baby back from immigration foster care. Now what?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_609786\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-609786\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-reunion-3x2-771x514.jpg\" alt=\"Sendy Karina Ferrera Amaya\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-reunion-3x2-771x514.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-reunion-3x2-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-reunion-3x2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-reunion-3x2-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-reunion-3x2.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Spike Johnson \/ for ProPublica<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sendy Karina Ferrera Amaya hugs her 1-year-old daughter after they were reunited at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>HOUSTON \u2014 Sendy Karina Ferrera Amaya clutched a stuffed unicorn outside the airport arrival gate Saturday morning, as her fianc\u00e9 Juan Barrera Bucio paced back and forth.<\/p>\n<p>He spotted the baby first.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s someone coming with a little girl,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, it\u2019s her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It had been 103 days since Ferrera\u2019s 1-year-old daughter Liah landed in foster care for immigrant children, separated under the Trump administration\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy after crossing the border with her uncle. Ferrera had left Honduras months earlier, when Liah was too small to travel. Ferrera made it into the U.S. undetected, and the plan was for her brother to do the same with Liah, but he was caught and deported. Then the Department of Health and Human Services had to be convinced to give the baby back to Ferrera.<\/p>\n<p>The department has argued that stringent vetting is necessary to ensure children <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national\/failures-in-handling-unaccompanied-migrant-minors-have-led-to-trafficking\/2016\/01\/26\/c47de164-c138-11e5-9443-7074c3645405_story.html?noredirect=on&amp;utm_term=.388de592b65f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vulnerable<\/a> to human trafficking are kept safe. But for Ferrera, the process felt opaque, full of never-ending questions. After a background check that included two home studies and a DNA test \u2014 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/mother-is-still-trying-to-get-back-baby-separated-at-the-border\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">anguish<\/a> about whether this day would come at all \u2014 Ferrera got word on Friday:<\/p>\n<p>She needed to pay for two plane tickets, one for her daughter, who was living at an undisclosed location in Texas, and one for a caretaker who would accompany her to Houston. Ferrera\u2019s fianc\u00e9 raced to wire the $895. Then, just after 3 a.m. the following morning, they began the drive from their trailer home in Sulphur, Louisiana, to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/she-got-her-baby-back-from-immigration-foster-care-now-what\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ProPublica<\/a>, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom.\u00a0Sign up for their\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.propublica.org\/forms\/newsletter_daily_email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Four hours later, there Liah was, wrapped in a pink blanket, dozing in her caretaker\u2019s arms. The baby stirred only for a moment when her tearful mother swept her up and kissed her, inhaling deeply. Then, Liah\u2019s eyes rolled shut, and she melted into Ferrera\u2019s shoulder, fast asleep.<\/p>\n<p>The caretaker had Ferrera sign forms. She handed over two envelopes full of records, a black gym bag and a diaper bag. It all took five minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Ferrera had so many questions \u2014 about where her daughter had spent the past three months and what would happen next.<\/p>\n<p>As the little family turned to collect themselves, they realized the caseworker was gone.<\/p>\n<p>Liah slept for the entire two-hour ride back to Sulphur, awaking just as they rolled up to their trailer. \u201cThis is your house,\u201d Ferrera told her. \u201cYou\u2019re home.\u201d Liah toddled inside and began to explore, opening cabinets and looking in the trash can. Soon, the living room was scattered with all the toys Ferrera had gathered in the months of waiting.<\/p>\n<p>Ferrera tried to piece together what she could about her daughter\u2019s time in foster care. She didn\u2019t know what kind of diapers Liah wore or when she slept or how she spent her days. She plopped the bags down and began to go through them.<\/p>\n<p>She found the beat-up white sandals Liah had worn on the smuggler\u2019s journey in April; they looked too small for her now.<\/p>\n<p>Along with diapers and a pile of new clothes were jars of baby food, applesauce, containers of soy milk, a Nutri-Grain bar \u2014 a hint of what Liah liked to eat. Another bag contained Tylenol and Benadryl.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_609788\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-609788\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-paperwork-inline-771x515.jpg\" alt=\"Ferrera\" width=\"771\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-paperwork-inline-771x515.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-paperwork-inline-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-paperwork-inline-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-paperwork-inline-1170x781.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-sendy-paperwork-inline.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Spike Johnson \/ for ProPublica<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ferrera looks through medical records and documents from her daughter\u2019s time at a shelter for unaccompanied immigrant children.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>She paged through the documents from the envelopes, which included intake forms and medical records. \u201cI don\u2019t understand,\u201d she said, shaking her head. \u201cIt\u2019s in English.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Border Patrol agents had conducted a medical screening when they first processed Liah, finding her \u201cmentally alert\u201d and exhibiting \u201cappropriate conduct.\u201d Reports chronicled seven doctor visits; the first noted Liah had arrived at the shelter with tick bites behind her ears. Over the months, she\u2019d also had a bad case of diaper rash, a cold and diarrhea. She\u2019d gotten nine vaccines. But Ferrera wouldn\u2019t understand any of it until her fianc\u00e9 could translate for her.<\/p>\n<p>Ferrera made note of the ways her daughter had grown. She had nine teeth, five more than when she left Honduras. Her toenails were long, so she pulled out the clippers. Liah was also more active than Ferrera had seen in the 20-minute video calls the shelter allowed once a week. She loved to flutter her lips, give high-fives and dance, and could touch her nose when prompted.<\/p>\n<p>The only time she fussed was when Ferrera left a room without her.<\/p>\n<p>That night, after Liah was tucked into her crib, Ferrera curled up on a mattress in the nursery and went to sleep beside her.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The next day, Ferrera and her fianc\u00e9 strapped Liah into her car seat and headed out for a drive.<\/p>\n<p>Their minds were on the challenges ahead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll need to get a lawyer,\u201d Barrera said.<\/p>\n<p>In Liah\u2019s file, there was a Warrant for Arrest and a Notice to Appear. \u201cYou are an alien present in the United States without being admitted or paroled,\u201d said the notice addressed to the baby. Liah\u2019s first court date was coming up, and Ferrera would need to get it moved from Texas to Louisiana. In an envelope, the case workers had included a list of pro-bono lawyers.<\/p>\n<p>Ferrera thought things would work out.<\/p>\n<p>Barrera wasn\u2019t so sure. Liah would probably need to file an asylum claim, and he knew the administration was making it harder to get accepted. \u201cI read a lot of news, and they say they are rejecting 90 percent of all the cases,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut Juan, that\u2019s not until she goes to court,\u201d Ferrera interrupted. Her friends had told her that it could take years to get a final decision from immigration court. Surely by then, they could find a solution to keep Liah in the country legally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know, I know,\u201d Barrera sighed, \u201cbut now, Donald Trump is making it so that everything happens faster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then, there was the question of Ferrera\u2019s status.<\/p>\n<p>She was undocumented, and the government knew it. As ProPublica has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/relatives-of-undocumented-children-caught-up-in-ice-dragnet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>, Immigration and Customs Enforcement can now access the information family members submit for the purpose of retrieving kids from the foster system and use it to deport people.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_609789\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-609789\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-grocery-sendy-inline-771x515.jpg\" alt=\"Ferrera\" width=\"771\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-grocery-sendy-inline-771x515.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-grocery-sendy-inline-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-grocery-sendy-inline-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-grocery-sendy-inline-1170x781.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/20180801-grocery-sendy-inline.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Spike Johnson \/ for ProPublica<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ferrera shops for food and clothes for her daughter at Walmart the day after Liah\u2019s return.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A friend had joked that he wouldn\u2019t come to their house to meet Liah because they were on ICE\u2019s radar. He had been staying with them back in April, but as soon as Liah and her uncle were caught, he packed up and stayed at a hotel.<\/p>\n<p>Ferrera tried to push those thoughts from her mind as she talked about the firsts she couldn\u2019t wait to experience: Liah\u2019s first trip to the beach, to the pool, to the parks around Lake Charles. But she couldn\u2019t deny the possibility that the time to execute this American bucket list could end. \u201cI hope they don\u2019t separate us from her,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>On this Sunday, they would settle for a modest agenda:<\/p>\n<p>Head to Walmart to buy groceries and clothes.<\/p>\n<p>Take Liah to Chuck E. Cheese.<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/pixel.propublica.org\/pixel.js\" async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An undocumented mother was reunited with her daughter. The first 36 hours brought a mix of joy, questions about the separation and worries about the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":609786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,234],"class_list":["post-609782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-children"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}