Since escaping violence in Guatemala nearly 25 years ago, Nury Chavarria has worked hard as a housekeeper to support her family, including one child born with special needs. Earlier this year, Nury was filled with pride as she watched her daughter graduate from high school with honors. In a tribute to her mother’s immigration story, Lindsay wrote “My mom crossed the border, so I could cross this stage” on her cap. Nury’s story should be one of the American Dream, of working hard so you can see your kids succeed. But instead, her story is becoming one of an American nightmare, because after years of regularly checking in with ICE, the undocumented mother of four U.S. citizens has been ordered to leave the country:
With her 9-year-old in tow, expecting just a routine check-in, Nuri was ordered to report back July 5 to show she had a one-way ticket to Guatemala with a July 20 departure date.
“I was in shock,” Chavarria said of that meeting. She said she and her youngest child, Hayley Chavarria, who will be in the fourth grade in September, started crying. “I couldn’t believe it was happening.”
Chavarria, who lives in Norwalk, said her children knew she reported to ICE on a regular basis, but also that she had documentation that allowed her to work. They didn’t realize the potential jeopardy she faced with the renewed immigration enforcement in place under President Donald Trump.
“While she was low priority for deportation under the Obama administration,” writes WNPR, “most immigrants out of status now are a priority.” In fact, since Donald Trump’s inauguration, the arrests of undocumented immigrants with no criminal record—undocumented immigrants like Nury—have surged 156 percent compared to this same period last year. Like Nury, many are being told to prepare to leave their homes and families after following ICE’s rules by checking in regularly, a pattern immigrant rights advocates have called “silent raids.”
Nury now worries about what will happen to her four kids if she is deported to Guatemala later this week. While Lindsay could set out on her own, Elvin, Nury’s eldest, has celebral palsy and depends on his mom for his care. Nury also has two other minor children who need their mom:
With her youngest child seated nearby, Chavarria was asked about guardianship plans for her children if she’s deported.
"Not yet. Nothing," she said. "They depend on me. And also they don’t want to come with me to Guatemala. It’s not a good place for them. It’s a hard situation for me and I’m worried about my kids."
Hayley Chavarria, 9, is about to go into fourth grade. When asked if she speaks Spanish at home with her mom, she said, "Most people in my family speak English. But we sometimes speak Spanish for my mom."
[Attorney Glenn] Formica said it's just not realistic to imagine that Chavarria would put her children, who are U.S. citizens, on a plane with her back to Guatemala.
"As a country I don’t think we want people just abandoning their children and leaving those children to become public responsibilities," Formica said.
Nor should these kids have to leave. This is their country. And it’s Nury’s, too. According to immigrant rights group America’s Voice, the Norwalk, Connecticut community is determined to keep Nury home, rallying around her family and collecting more than 30,000 signatures demanding a stop to her deportation. Her advocates are also “asking for help from Nury’s two US senators, Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, as well as the state’s Democratic Governor, Dan Malloy.” You can sign one of the petitions in her support here.