Due to Congressional inaction and immigration laws that haven’t kept pace with reality, millions of US citizens live in families where at least one person is, or could be, facing deportation. This includes approximately 1.5 million U.S. citizens who are married to immigrants and have no pathway to legal status.
Ashley DeAzevedo runs American Families United, an organization that represents couples and families in the horrible situation of being forced to decide whether to live in the United States in fear of being separated or leave the country they love entirely so they can be together. Anna Lekas Miller, author of Love Across Borders, shares her own story and the stories of other couples in the U.S. and around the world who face similar circumstances.
I sat down with Ashley and Anna yesterday for an in-depth discussion of mixed-status couples, joined by a vibrant and engaged audience, to get into the nitty-gritty of what life is really like for these couples. See the original announcement here.
I learned so much in this conversation, and I’m sure you will, too, if you make time to listen to their incredible stories of love, fear, hope, and endurance. After you listen, I hope you’ll do your part to share this discussion with friends and family members who could benefit from understanding what our immigration system is actually doing to U.S. citizens right now.
As Ashley said during our discussion, “I have to believe that most Americans, when they see someone suffering at the hands of their own government, they would not support that, right? So let’s get the story out there.”
I host regular public conversations about immigration as an antidote to the divisive clickbait media culture we live in. I am finally getting these conversations onto a regular schedule on Tuesdays at 1:00 PM. Please join me next Tuesday at 1:00 PM for a conversation with RAICES about the resurgence of family detention under the current administration. The full event description and registration link are available in the announcement below.
Inside Family Detention with Javier Hidalgo and Faisal Al-Juburi from RAICES Texas
Family detention has returned as a central feature of immigration enforcement under the second Trump administration, with ICE detention facilities once again housing parents and children together in what advocates describe as jail-like conditions.
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