“cross-posted” from Pearlman’s The Truth OC
Gladys and Nelson González
“It always happens to someone else. Until it happens to you.”
In case you missed this heartbreaking story, earlier this month a Laguna Niguel couple that had lived in the United States for 35 years was snatched up and kicked out.
Their names are Gladys and Nelson González. They came from Colombia in 1989 via the San Ysidro border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, seeking a better life. They have three daughters. They have multiple grandchildren. Gladys, 55, was a homemaker. Nelson, 59, worked at a laboratory. Their records were free of any/all crimes.
On Feb. 21, in what was supposed to be a routine check-in, the two visited ICE offices to review the nuances of their status in the United States. Instead of an appreciative breakdown, Gladys and Nelson were (to their great shock) held and sent to a private immigration jail in San Bernardino. “The only thing they were told was that they had exhausted their stay,” their daughter, Stephanie, told El País. “This, despite the fact that they managed to extend their permit to be in the country every year and that they are law-abiding citizens who have never hidden from the authorities.”
For two wholes weeks, the González daughters heard nothing. They knew not if Gladys and Nelson were dead or alive, safe or in trouble. Their parents were ultimately taken to a detention center in Arizona, then Louisiana, then sent back to Colombia—a nation that had not been home since “Rain Man” won Best Picture.
And if you’re one of these people who thinks, “Hey, well, they were illegal …” ask yourself this—why are you here?
Or, more important: How are you here?
I’ll go first:
This is sickening. I hope that many others will join me in following that link.