Guys, I have a friend who is in desperate need of help.
I’ve been friends with Angela for a couple of years now. She and her husband, Luis, are courageous and hardworking parents who are trapped on opposite sides of the Mexican border right now, separating Angela from her young children even though those children are United States citizens.
You can read all about Angela’s predicament here. The short version of the story is that they all moved to Mexico when Luis couldn’t get a green card and Luis and the children have been trapped there, unable to afford basic necessities, ever since– not because Luis doesn’t work but because wages are ridiculously low. Angela is here in America working because that’s the only way she can get her family enough money that the baby doesn’t starve– and I’m not being euphemistic here. There wasn’t enough food in the house for Angela to make breastmilk, but formula and sanitary water are so expensive in Mexico, the baby would have starved to death. If you’ve ever wondered why anyone would attempt to go through the horrifying misery of illegally crossing the Mexican border to get to America, I’d like you to read Angela’s description of what it’s like on the other side:
“I gave birth in Mexico to my fourth child, and the best I can say about the experience is that it was quick. I wasn’t allowed to bathe after giving birth, and we weren’t even allowed toilet paper unless our families bought it from the hospital store at an inflated price. On a good day, my husband can only earn about $5, assuming that work is even available. That is not enough to raise a family on. I tried to find a job, but found out the hard way that even a bachelor’s degree isn’t valued in Mexico. I breastfed, but then I noticed that my baby was losing weight and wouldn’t stop crying. Because we didn’t have much more to eat other than tortillas, salsa, and beans, I couldn’t produce enough milk. Formula costs more than a day’s work in Mexico. There is no running water in our town there, so we would also have to buy water from the city. So many other babies in town get sick from drinking formula because the water has parasites to the point that Seguro Popular comes by every so often with medication intended to kill parasites in youngsters. My kids are resilient and are adapting as best they can, but my daughter has a speech delay. There is little understanding of what that even is, much less support, so education is severely lacking. I’m ashamed to say that my kids have learned what it means to not have enough money for anything, so it has been difficult to teach them that money does not equal happiness. When you can’t even buy a pack of cookies for your kids, that lesson gets lost.”
This is also the part of Mexico where fresh produce is astronomically expensive because it’s all exported to us, by the way.
Angela has a job, she’s getting housing, she’s saving all the money she can, and she needs to bring her citizen children back to the United States to live with her before their sickness and speech delays get any worse. She also needs to get an immigration lawyer to eventually bring her husband to the country legally, the “right way,” waiting his turn, as I’m so often told is the only way an immigrant can come to merit a smidge of compassion. And they’re a fellow Catholic family, if that matters to you.
It would be the most pro-family work of mercy I can imagine, to give her a little help.
I’m asking anyone who can to chip in to her gofundme. This is just to pay for travel expenses for the children who are already citizens and an immigration lawyer to take care of Luis– the lawyer alone is going to cost at least 5k. That’s the other reason so many people come to America illegally, by the way: it’s ridiculously expensive. Hard work and determination will only get you so far. But Angela and Luis are asking for help to follow the rules.
Please do keep them in your prayers as well. And than you all very much.
(image via Pixabay)
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