Future holds uncertainty for immigrants' children
Community offers help to families after ICE raid
"I'm hoping to see my mom again," said Myron, who, along with his baby brother, is staying with his aunt, Estrella. His father lives in El Salvador.
Estrella, a mother of two, learned her husband, mother and two sisters were arrested in the raid. Now she's caring for her sisters' three children, who range in age from infant to 10.
"It's very difficult," said Estrella, who speaks only Spanish and can't work because she is caring full time for the children. But she said community organizations and churches are helping out, and like her 10-year-old nephew, she is hopeful about seeing her relatives again.
The Latino community and its supporters along the Wasatch Front have banded together to help those like Myron, who were left behind after Operation Wagon Train, which federal immigration agents are calling the largest work-site enforcement to date, netting 1,282 arrests in six states.
In Utah, federal agents arrested 145 suspected illegal immigrants at Swift & Co. in Hyrum on Tuesday, 31 on criminal charges.
However, anti-illegal immigration activist Alex Segura, director of the Utah Minuteman Project, said the raid is evidence of rampant identity theft by illegal immigrants and spotlights the need for state and federal authorities to crack down on the crime.
"Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided (Swift) because they knew there was identity theft," he said. "That's a problem."
However, Latino commu- nity activists see children like Myron as victims, as well.
While there's no official count, community advocates estimate 300 children may have lost one or both parents in the Logan raid alone.
Bravo said Estrella, and others left behind, need help "to pay the rent; they need gas, electricity."
The Cache center, which is remaining open 24 hours a day while there's a need, has seen a steady stream of those seeking assistance or offering to help, Bravo said.
In Salt Lake City, Centro Civico Mexicano is taking donations of food, clothing and blankets, along with financial aid.
In Ogden, AnnaJane Arroyo, chairwoman of Image de NU CHAC, is also working to organize donations. Arroyo says she doesn't sympathize with those who steal identities — her own brother recently discovered he's an identity-theft victim.
Even so, she said, "the children, I don't believe, should pay for the decision of, the sins of, their parents. The children are innocent."
E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com
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