“Separating Children from their Parents is A Form of Torture”

Traducción al inglés, UUSC.

Photography: Pop No'j Communication .   Lupe back in her mother's arms. 

On June 15, after being separated for a period of three months, Lupe*, a Maya Mam girl of only two years old, was finally returned to her parents at the Casa Nuestras Raíces shelter of the Social Welfare Secretariat (SBS for its initials in Spanish) in Guatemala City. The girl had traveled with her father to the United States and, while crossing the border, was captured by agents of the U.S. Border Patrol. The father was taken prisoner and the girl was torn from her father’s arms, taken to a shelter, and then to a foster family.

The father knew nothing of his daughter’s whereabouts for 20 days, until a social worker from the shelter got in touch with him in detention, as well as the mother in Guatemala. After this, they were able to communicate with their daughter twice a week.

The father was deported to Guatemala after his imprisonment, and there, together with his wife, they waited with anxiety and anguish for Lupe's return.



KIND – a U.S.-based organization that supports migrant children - referred the case as soon as they had information about Lupe's return, to Asociación Pop No'j of Guatemala - which accompanies the return and reintegration of children and adolescents in the south of Huehuetenango - for them to follow up.

Photography:  Pop No'j Communications.  Parents of children that were separated from them in the United States waiting for their return.



Pop No'j got in touch with Lupe's father and mother, who live in a remote village in Huehuetenango, 348 kilometers from Guatemala City, to which travel is difficult. They did not know Guatemala City or the steps that would be needed for their daughter to be returned, so the accompaniment they received was very useful.

To be able to travel to Guatemala City and arrive on time, Lupe's parents took out a loan of two thousand quetzales to pay for an express transportation service. The rains and terrible conditions of the roads delayed the trip further, but even so, they arrived at 4:00 p.m. on June 14. However, Lupe's flight landed at 6:50 p.m., and she left the airport to be moved to the Hogar Raíces shelter at 8:00 p.m., so it was not possible for their daughter to be returned to their custody. They had to wait all night, still separated from their daughter, so that the next day they would be reunited.





After following the procedure, Lupe was finally handed over to her parents at 1:00 p.m. on Friday June 15. The reunion was again traumatic, accompanied by tears and pain. On Saturday, June 16, at around 5 in the afternoon, Lupe and her parents managed to reach their humble home in their village of origin.



This story is being repeated again and again under the U.S. government’s “Zero Tolerance” policy toward irregular migration. Guatevisión, in its edition of June 18, reported that: between May 5 and June 9, 2,342 children were separated from family members with whom they were traveling when they entered the United States irregularly.



For its part, only last week Asociación Pop No'j accompanied the reunification of 3 children from different parts of Huehuetenango with their parents and is following up on 5 more cases of parents who are seeking information about their children who were left in the United States, after being separated. The children in these cases range between the ages of 6 and 10.



As several legal experts have pointed out, the policy of separating children from their parents constitutes a violation of international and U.S. law. These are acts of torture against children and their parents, which will leave scars throughout their lives. In addition, attacks and sexual abuse are being committed against migrants. A man from Huehuetenango reported that he saw a boy being taken from his uncle on the U.S. border. They beat both the uncle and the child. Seeing this, the witness – who was traveling with his young daughter – did not resist when they took his child away.

Those who are carrying out this policy are agents of the U.S. Border Patrol, the same agency that on May 23 assassinated the young Guatemalan woman Carmen Patricia Gómez González. 

                                 Photography:  Pop No'j Communications.   After three months of separation, Lupe is back with her parents.

*A fictitious name was used to protect the child’s identity.