“Born in the USA, Don't Take My Mommy and Daddy Away!”
Children of Immigrants March on Washington DC
Story and photos by Adrian Avila

It is not often that the steps of the Supreme Court in the Nations Capitol resemble an elementary school yard, but on July 17 th the DC area had the honor of having 150 children come from New York, Chicago, California, and Miami who all came to pursuit just immigration policy that would keep their families together. The children ranged from one to 17-year-olds. On the heels on the collapse of immigration reform legislation, community organizations brought the children of undocumented immigrants to the Congress and the Supreme Court to show political leaders the families that will be torn apart with increasing deportations.

The message was loud, clear and delivered through a chant, riffing off of a Bruce Springsteen song. “Born in the U.S.A. don't take my mommy or daddy away!” It could be heard through the halls of the congressional buildings of the Capitol. The U.S. born children were in DC to let the lawmakers and decision makers know that the separations of families needs to come to an end, and that the immigration “issue” has a human face, and very real, and very often young, human voice.

It is not only Latino families that are broken up by the recent ICE raids, Jamaican, Pilipino, and Haitians families are also suffering from the lack of a realistic immigration bill.

A nine-year-old from the Bronx, New York told the story of how his father was taken from him one cold morning and was deported to Jamaica. “I woke up and the policemen had my daddy and they took him away right in font of me,” the young boy recalled as he held a poster board that had pictures of the boy and his father smiling and playing together on his birthday.  

Stories such as this one are becoming very common, where the children of undocumented parents are left behind with family members or community members. That's why it is so important that the people of this nation know what's really happing and it is stories like this one that really put a human face to the immigration debate, and show how destructive the deportations have been.

The children and a few of their parents had the opportunity to meet with Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren California who is the Chair of the subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law. The children surrounded the Congresswoman in her office as Rev. Walter Coleman from Chicago read off a statement that said that Congress had committed an injustice to millions of undocumented immigrants by not passing any form of immigration legislation that would allow millions of families to stay together by providing a path to legalization.

Rev.Walter Coleman, best known for opening up his church doors and giving refuge to Elvia Arellano who has received national attention for her deportation resistance and her eight-year old son Saul Arellano in order to avoid Elvia's deportation, gathered 60 children from the Chicago area and brought them the nation's capitol in order to demonstrate to them how the United States government works. Emma Lozano, a longtime immigration activist from Chicago said, “These kids are not on vacation, they are here to learn and to understand why it is that they are being separated from their parents.” Both Rev. Coleman and Emma Lozano played big parts in the demonstrations, which took part in front of Congress and the steps of the Supreme Court, but the real heroes were the children.

Battling the hot summer sun for hours and keeping spirits high, they chanted while   filling passer-by's with a sense of hope. It was so moving that Congresswoman Lofgren was brought to tears as the words flowed out of the mouth of the brave children. “Why does my mommy have to leave me?” asked seven-year-old Jose Luis(not real name), “She didn't do anything wrong” he went on, but no answer came, only a sad and lost look from the congresswoman.

The children, whom are all U.S. citizens with the exception of one, marched from the Congress buildings to the steps of the Supreme Court where they held a press conference demanding a just immigration bill be passed that would keep their families together. Voices from all four states were heard, the stories and pleas of the children had such an impact that on lookers couldn't help but stop and listen to the young voices tell their stories.

Carlos Espinosa, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo a hardcore anti-immigration lawmaker said,   ''I think it's sad that these advocates would use the children as pawns to push their agenda through a scheme that is nothing more than a publicity stunt,'' but many would beg to differ. None of the children showed any sign of them being used in any kind of stunt, the fighting spirit was strong in them and with their flags held high, they stood tall and expressed their own fears.

The kids were more than happy to share the stories and they felt like they had accomplished a lot by demonstrating and letting the voices be heard.