For those who care about the rights of immigrants and the rule of law the sheer volume of bad news can be overwhelming. It’s hard to find a way to push back against the cruel policies being adopted by ICE under the Trump administration. But scrolling through Facebook yesterday I came upon the GoFundMe campaign sponsored by Debbie Nathan, a one-time El Paso journalist. Nathan’s book Women and Other Aliens made a big impression on me when I was a graduate student doing research on the border. Women on the Border has also published Nathan’s work. She is good people, and the mission of her GoFundMe campaign is one of compassion that we think Women on The Border readers will want to know about.
The campaign seeks to raise money to support a young Central American woman and her mother who fled domestic abuse to seek asylum in the US in 2018 and fell victim to the family separation policies that were in place during the first Trump administration. After participating in the ACLU’s class action suit, they were given a path to seek asylum and eventually settled in the DC area. The mother works full time as a cleaner and the daughter has been thriving, earning top marks in high school and headed for college.
But sadly, the man with whom the mother was living, who was carrying much of the financial burden of the household, was grabbed by ICE in April as he left the house on his way to work. He had committed no crime, although he is undocumented. He worked hard and paid his taxes. The family suspects that ICE may have received his information from the IRS.
Left without his income, the girl and her mother are now struggling to pay the rent and the girl’s dreams of college are in peril. This GoFundMe campaign is an opportunity to do something small but concrete to help a young woman and her mother whose lives have now been twice interrupted by the Trump administration’s harsh and punitive immigration policies. As Nathan writes, “By donating, you will be helping to give a talented, promising young woman the chance of a future. By helping the family, you will be helping to eradicate this madness and destruction and give us ALL the chance for a future.”
https://www.gofundme.com/f/trump-wants-to-smash-and-grab-their-future-lets-save-it