A 1-year-old torn apart from his father

Dear friends,

Over the holiday some families were brought back together under Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody while seeking asylum. Unfortunately, Jose and 1-year-old baby Mateo are still separated under ICE custody. Take action now and demand that ICE officials reunite Jose and Mateo and never split up another family in immigration detention again.

A 1-year-old baby should never be split from their parent, and frankly it’s just shameful that ICE have still not united baby Mateo and Jose. We need your help Luc to reunite Jose with his son, take action now and demand ICE officials reunite him with his son now.

-Margaret

1-Year-Old Baby Mateo Sign the Petition › Dear Luc, Jose was fleeing death threats and violence in his home country of El Salvador when he presented himself at the United States border with his 1-year-old son, Mateo. Now, Jose has been separated from his son by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents without knowledge of when he will see his son again. Take action now and demand that ICE officials reunite Jose and Mateo and never split up another family in immigration detention again. Jose and Mateo aren’t the only family that were separated by ICE while seeking asylum. Three other families seeking asylum were separated at the same time; an experience that is a cruel violation of national immigration detention standards by failing to prioritize and facilitate family unity. Jose and his wife made the impossible decision of splitting up the family so that Jose and Mateo could seek safety and asylum in the United States of America. The holidays are coming, and no one at ICE has indicated that Mateo and his father will be reunited by then—take action now and ask ICE officials to stop separating families and release them from custody. ICE agents denied Jose’s requests to use a phone and demanded Mateo be handed over, telling him that his asylum claims would be compromised if he refused to surrender his son. Jose now waits in an ICE detention facility while his case is processed separately from his young child. Baby Mateo has already faced violence in his home country. Now, ICE is extending this trauma by tearing his family further apart and putting his future at risk—demand that ICE officials reunite him with his father now. TAKE ACTION

Margaret Huang Executive Director Amnesty International

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