tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14162253.post1595594350595784309..comments2024-03-27T08:39:28.807-06:00Comments on Wash Park Prophet: Deportations At Record LevelsAndrew Oh-Willekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02537151821869153861noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14162253.post-91157139647259271482010-07-26T23:41:42.274-06:002010-07-26T23:41:42.274-06:00Pafean's mom was deported in May. All of her ...Pafean's mom was deported in May. All of her children were born in the United States. She's never learned much English, but after all, it would be her third language after Cora and Spanish. I've known her since Pafean, who will be a senior in high school, was in 4th grade. She ruled her household of 5 boys with an iron hand. She never missed a parent-teacher conference. At each conference, to each teacher, she had me say this: "Let me know if my boy is ever disrespectful." Every teacher assured her that her boys were wonderful, helpful sons, and she'd say, "That's because I teach them to have respect." After she learned that our school offered a homework help program after school two days a week, it became a *mandatory* program for her two high school-age boys. She and her husband decided to begin the process to become citizens, and that's why she was deported. They violated some obscure rule on the path to citizenship. The father and Pafean stayed in the States and she took the younger kids back to Nayarit. Would writing a letter to a Congressman have helped stay her deportation? Would anything have helped? I asked to see the deportation letter so I could understand the reasons, but Pafean said it didn't really have the reasons. I decided my intervention wouldn't help. But I was fond of her. I admired her dedication to her family--e.g., she quit working her greenhouse job so she could keep a closer eye on the boys. In 4th grade, at that first conference I translated for, she learned that Pafean didn't know his basic math facts. She pointed at the sheets of math facts and said to him, "Pafean, how can this be? I don't know these [pointing to multiplication and division facts] but even *I* know these [pointing to addition and subtraction]." I'm not a proponent of illegal immigration, but gee whiz, why break up a strong family with a dedicated, devoted mother? Where's the logic in that?Judenoreply@blogger.com