Last Friday we announced that Border Angels had posted it’s 48th bond on our Familias Reunidas program, and today we share with you her story: meet Mercedes! She is an amazing trans woman and asylum seeker from Honduras who has overcome so many obstacles and finally be free from the horrible Otay Mesa Detention Center.
We are in awe of her incredible strength and resilience, as she not only was in the Otay Mesa detention center for over a year and half, but was also in detention in Tapachula, Mexico for six months before that. Her bond had once been denied when we had tried to help her in the past, and we are always worried about our LGBTQ+ community in detention, as they are especially vulnerable. After being released, she was stopped and questioned by both TSA and ICE once more due to an issue with her paperwork, and although she was given a hard time, she was finally able to board a plane and give start to her new life. We cannot imagine the struggle and pain she has endured due to the shameful and racist policies in place, but we are happy to have some part in her healing. We received the last two pictures today, and we are ecstatic to see her so happy and thriving. Thank you Mercedes, you are an inspiration! Let these stories serve as a reminder of all the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and community members waiting in such conditions in detention, simply for seeking a place or a part in this country. Mercedes represents so many others being subject to these inhumane policies and we must not forget the urgency of getting everyone we can out of the Otay Mesa Detention Center. This pandemic continues to be unforgiving, and we will not allow any more lives lost. Again, we thank you for your support and ask you to continue to help us make sure our folks are #FreeAndAlive.
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January 2021
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