The ACLU of Massachusetts is suing the U.S. government on behalf of a Guatemalan woman who is trying to reunite with her daughter after being separated from her at the border.
The organization’s executive director, Carol Rose, joined Boston Public Radio today to talk about the suit. She also discussed a San Diego judge’s injunction calling for the reunification of families separated at the border within 30 days.
“A series of lawsuits have been brought, including here in Massachusetts,” Rose said. “The facts of these cases are just heart-wrenching.”
Rose explained that the Massachusetts ACLU filed an emergency motion on behalf of the woman, Angelica Rebeca Gonzalez-Garcia, who came to the U.S. from Guatemala with her seven-year-old daughter.
Rose said an ICE agent asked Gonzalez-Garcia if Guatemalans celebrate Mother’s Day when she crossed the Arizona-Mexico border with her daughter.
“She said, ‘Yes we do,’ and the ICE person said, ‘Well happy Mother’s Day,’ and took her daughter away,” said Rose.
The two were separated in May, and while the mother is staying with friends in Massachusetts, the daughter is being held in Texas.
Rose says they will remain separated until the government gets a second set of fingerprints from Gonzalez-Garcia. Rose called this “unacceptable.”
She also condemned the administration’s slow action on the California judge’s injunction, predicting officials won’t meet the deadline to reunite families. If the administration does not meet the deadline, the ACLU could bring forth a motion of contempt of court, a criminal sanction.
Rose said the reasons for the administration’s inaction are unclear.
“The only reason I can think [of] is intentional cruelty to show that this a tough administration,” she said. “Every day that you’re away from your child is agony.”
Carol Rose is the Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts.
