By José Luis Aguirre
El Heraldo Católico

Gilbert Mejia and his sister Helen thought the end of the world had arrived when they said good bye to their parents and Dulce, their four-year-old sister, at the San Francisco International Airport in November.

The two teenagers, 18 and 13 years old respectively, were witnessing the deportation of their parents to Guatemala. The couple had come to the United States 17 years earlier and during the ensuing years Salvador Mejia worked as a carpenter and Elida Mejia-Perez was a caregiver for children and older adults.

The nightmare for the Mejias began in March 2007 when several Immigration and Custom officers (ICE) knocked on the door of the sleeping family’s home in Novato with a warrant, looking for someone the family did not know.

“Because we opened the door and they were already inside the house, they decided to ask for our documents,” Gilbert remembers.

“They entered in a very violent way. There were eight agents in the house and some more in the backyard. They spoke loudly, had guns, and took me off the bed, pointing at me with their guns. Then I saw how they handcuffed my parents,” adds Helen.

ICE let Elida Mejia-Perez remain in the house to take care of her children. Salvador Mejia and an uncle were arrested and taken to a detention center in San Francisco.

Mejia-Perez paid $500 for the bailout. The couple was required to report to immigration authorities and to wear electronic ankle bracelets so the immigration officers could monitor them.

In October 2007, a judge in San Francisco ruled in favor of the Mejias after hearing the testimonies of the family who argued that both Helen and Dulce were U.S. citizens and that the entire family would suffer greatly if they had to return to Guatemala.

However, ICE appealed the ruling, and the family continued with their struggle, spending more than $30,000 in legal representation. They asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein to sponsor a private bill for them. She reviewed the case twice, but declined to intervene. In the end, the couple lost their case and had to return to Guatemala, taking Dulce with them.

“It was the saddest day in my life,” said Gilbert, a student at Santa Rosa College who wants to become an architect. “Now I feel the solitude in the house,” especially when he gets home from school and nobody is around.

“I remember that at noon I used to pick up Dulce from the pre-school while my parents had to go to San Francisco three days a week to show up before the immigration officers.”

Helen, a ninth grader at Novato High School, said watching her parents’ struggle was very difficult. “I felt very bad and was very angry that not even in the airport did ICE take the bracelets off. They did that only when my parents were in the airplane. They treated them like criminals.”

Nobody told Dulce about the situation. Instead, her siblings told her she was going to meet her grandma in Guatemala where she was going to have a pet.

Since arriving back in their native Quetzatenalgo, the couple has not been able to find jobs and they continue to worry about their two children in the Bay Area.

The teenagers live with another uncle in the same house their parents had bought, but the mortgage and other bills have to be paid.

Their relatives help as do other concerned adults including Father Paul Rossi, pastor at Mission San Rafael, and Precious Blood Father Dave Matz, who lives in Berkeley and works with Latinos at Mission San Rafael.

“The same week their parents were deported, we decided to start a fund with the help of some parishioners” Father Matz said. “For me it is such an honor to put my effort into helping these kids.” He has taken Gilbert to meetings and events where he can connect with people who might be able to help, especially with legal matters.

“We are talking about a family with a strong connection with the community, who have worked very hard for a better life,” he said. “Immigration officials should be conscious that they are separating families and leaving them with an open wound for the rest of their lives.”

“Everybody in this country is an immigrant in a different way,” said Helen. “Immigration officials are not taking into consideration the feelings of the families when they are deported, when people don’t even know when they are going to see each other again. They should walk in our shoes because they have families too. What they would think if they got separated against their will?”

“Family separation is very harmful” added Gilbert, who coordinates the youth group in the San Rafael parish. “If I could send a message to the immigration officials, I would tell them that instead of spending millions of dollars on deportations, they should spend that money on comprehensive immigration reform.”

Gilbert’s case is still open. On the day of the raid the officers assumed that he was an American citizen. Three days later, they found out that he was born in Guatemala. After several court hearings, he is scheduled to appear again in July 2010 when a judge will determine if he can stay in the U.S. or if he must return to Guatemala, a country he doesn’t know.

According to current U.S. law, when Helen turns 21, she can petition to bring her parents back to the U.S. However, because they were deported, they are barred from returning to the U.S. for 10 years. So unless some legal change occurs, the earliest the family can be reunited here is 2020.

Susan Brown, a member of the Marin Organizing Community and a Mission San Rafael parishioner, is in charge of the Mejia-Perez Family Fund, an account opened at the Marin Bank, l4460 Redwood Highway, San Rafael, CA 94903. The account number is 03-131026.

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