Dear Future President,

I know for a fact this is a huge topic and issue that many people know about that needs to be fixed. The separation of families is sad, but the part that hurts the most is how kids get left behind with nobody or anything to support them. For this reason, I believe that I can provide a voice for someone I know that has experienced the effect of undocumentated immigration.

A friend of mine remembers hearing the phone ring without stopping. Usually, they never hear the phone ring so often, and so it was obvious something odd was going on. It was from an aunt letting them know that one of their aunts was taken away, and that she had been forced to abandon her child. All they heard was voices, and whispers advising each other on what to do. They were also an undocumented family, themselves, with no problems, but poor, but they wanted to help provide for their family member. Her parents eventually worked double shifts to earn more, but that still wasn’t enough. A family was broken, and they didn’t get the chance to see their child grow up. How can our government do that to parents of young children?

Nearly 45,000 parents were taken away from their families in the first six months of this year, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Behind their stories of a broken family, there is a crying baby taken from her mother’s arm and handed to social workers as the mothers are handcuffed and taken away with her parental rights terminated by a judge. Teenage children watch as their parents are dragged from the family home. Meanwhile, immigrant parents are taken to a maze-like detention system where they are routinely locked up, hundreds of miles from their homes, separated from their families for months, and are denied access or any contact with the welfare agencies deciding their children’s fate. At least 5,100 U.S citizen children in 22 states live in foster care, according to an estimate by the Applied Research Center, a New York based advocacy organization.

In conclusion, it comes to despite president Barack Obama’s promise his administration would focus on removing only criminals, not breaking up or separating families even if the parents are here illegally. Now that you are president, I want you to address the issue of immigration reform for breaking up families.

Yours Truly,

Estrella