Original subtitles

All right, guys.

We do have 94 bodies going to Otero as IRI candidates.

They're coming in this morning.

We are gonna get a pregnant female coming in

on a flight from Denver,

and she'll be removed tomorrow via PDN to the Mexican consulate.

Just be safe out there, the bridge.

- All right, let's have a good shift, guys. - One, two, three, processing!

- Morning, guys. - Morning.

Gentlemen, take a seat, please!

- You are all Mexicans? - Yes!

Most of you here will be deported this morning.

Oh. Keep moving!

Thanks for behaving yourselves.

Remember we are here to receive you 24 hours a day

- whenever you would like to return. - Thank you.

But do it legally, please.

Try to do it the right way. That's always the best way.

That way you don't have to keep on looking behind your back.

I was here for 17 years.

My parents brought me here when I was three years old.

I got stopped in Maryland, simple traffic stop.

They called Immigration on me, and I didn't have my legal paperwork,

and I got deported after...

growing up in the United States and never getting in trouble once.

I don't make the rules. I just enforce them and...

You went through the process and...

I just think it's funny 'cause you said,

"People do it the right way, you can come in."

- Right. - Right?

So what was my wrongdoing in that?

- There was no wrong. - Right.

You're a victim of your parents...

trying to do good, and it didn't come out good.

I lived in Mexico for five years.

I got deported in 2014, but...

That's when you could've gone and asked for a pardon on the removal.

They told me I had to wait ten years to ask for a pardon.

So, you did know that you had an option. You already waited five years.

Could you stay away from your family for ten years?

You waited five years. You could've waited five more.

- There was light at the end of the tunnel. - Answer my question. Could you?

I've never been in that situation. I couldn't tell you whether yes or no.

All right. I'd like to see you in my shoes right now.

You ever felt sorry for someone who you walked across the bridge?

Honestly, I can't say that. No. No.

Never?

Nope.

On the contrary, it gets me to trying to understand why they do it.

I still haven't been able to have somebody tell me

the logical reason why they did it the illegal way,

knowingly knowing that there's a legal way to do it.

- Good luck, gentlemen. - See you again soon.

Good luck.

Try to do it the right way.

- All right, man. - Stay safe.

Stay safe, brother.

What they should be clear about is what they mean by doing it the right way.

There's the lawful way...

and then there's this...

I don't even know how to describe it. This... undescribable phrase

of doing it the right way.

Whatever the hell that means.

Because anyone who understands asylum law

knows that when people present themselves at the port of entry

and request asylum...

that is doing it the lawful way.

Now it may not be the right way in this White House's view,

but I'd like to know what the hell they mean

by "doing it the right way," because it's the lawful way.

When Border Patrol apprehends somebody, that's when they process 'em.

Uh, it's probably full in there. So that's why they have this set up...

for the overflows.

Trying to catch up with the numbers of people coming in.

I'd be willing to bet most of them are seeking asylum.

So you got... On one hand, you got people coming in.

On the other hand, you have some going back.

Um, it's a... it's a circle.

I wouldn't consider it a circle of life, but it's a circle.

The El Paso processing center here has a bed space capability of 840.

We're right around 840 every day.

Bed space is...

first thing in the morning when I come in, that's what I'm looking at.

Last thing I look at night when I go to sleep is bed space,

and sometimes in my dreams in between,

it's bed space.

Everybody's at capacity.

Every night here, the plan is:

Is there a bed that we can put 'em in?

My last tour of duty, if you will, at the department Homeland Security

was serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff for ICE.

It provided me a 50,000-foot view of ICE operations.

And I was dealing with detention facilities.

It's a civil administrative system.

And the only reason we're supposed to detain people

is for the sole purposes of ensuring

that they are able to see their proceedings through,

and then we, as a government, are able to remove them to their home country.

As you can see, the paths are clearly lined here

for persons that are coming out of court right now.

It makes it easier for... for the officers

at every point to see where the detainees are headed.

I mean, it's pretty much to keep order.

This is very different than prison.

Our detainees here have extended rec time.

It's an open facility where they're not in a cell,

you know, 24 hours a day, seven days of the week.

Not only that, but there's no sentences here.

This is the medical housing unit here. This is where we keep

some of our more delicate cases in here as well.

Right now, we do have several hunger strikers in here.

They've been on hunger strike for a few days now,

and we wanna make sure that we keep an eye on them.

We don't want them to die in custody. Bottom line.

So, at some point, we have to request a court order to force-feed.

Usually, it's a protest on their case.

They wanna stay in the US, or they wanna be released,

or they want their case expedited.

Most is, "I want to be released,"

and in many of those cases, there is no relief.

So, it creates this issue of,

"Well, if you're not gonna release me, then I'm gonna harm myself by not eating."

So...

They're here for as long as we can try to effect a removal.

So they have... It's not like... a jail inmate that's in here,

sentenced to a certain time. They know the day they get out.

They have no idea when they're gonna leave, and I know...

I mean, if I was in their place, it would be very difficult

to not know when I'm leaving.

You know, people see it sometimes as a punishment.

We don't punish.

So, it's...

I know it's viewed that way,

but we aren't gonna hold somebody to punish them.

Go on in.

Go on, right here in this room.

- How's your day so far? - Well, fine.

Thank God. Did you eat yet today?

I almost couldn't eat lunch today because of the smell of the food.

Huh?

I felt sad because when we arrived, we saw two buses entering.

- Yes. - I saw the people on the bus.

More and more arriving.

The detention center is full.

They enter and enter and enter but don't leave.

They don't leave.

The other day, the girl said, "Mom",

tell the lawyer to get you out before Mother's Day.

"I want to be with you, Mom."

You will leave. You will leave.

Let's pray. Let's pray.

Berta, my client, she's a 63-year-old grandmother

who legally entered the United States.

She entered with her granddaughter

and asked for asylum.

So they get interviewed subsequent to that.

The passed a credible fear.

Eventually, the little girl gets reunited with mom in Houston, Texas,

and then grandma is detained.

And I hope they take me out of here, Lord.

I cannot be here anymore.

And my friends who are locked up with me, please help us to leave quickly.

Thank you, Lord. Amen.

Take care of yourself. Eat.

I'll see you, yeah?

God bless you.

Give me a big hug.

Oh!

I've been coming every Wednesday to see her.

Just like two grandmas would, we connect with each other.

I just can't imagine having my granddaughter,

who grew up with me for 14 years, like she was telling me...

They got to the border, and all of a sudden, whammo!

They just separated them.

I know she wanted to die.

Her granddaughter's back with her mom in Houston.

I have been with my grandmother since I was a newborn.

I have spent my entire childhood with my grandmother.

She's my mother.

In the neighborhood where I lived,

there was so much gang activity.

Girls were raped.

People didn't say anything for fear of being killed.

I lived alone with my granddaughter.

And the MS-13 gang wanted to come after me

because they wanted her to be their woman.

The guy came over to my house looking for me,

saying that I had to go with him...

But I told him I didn't want to go with him.

I didn't want to marry him. They wanted to force me to marry him.

I told him no, that I didn't want to marry him.

I was only 12 years old.

And then he tried kissing me by force, and my grandma didn't let him.

And he told my grandma he would hurt her if she didn't leave.

They told me that if I don't leave the house,

they would set me on fire or kill me.

I thought I could ask for protection for me and my granddaughter.

So I came here without saying a word.

We traveled at night.

It took more than ten days to get here.

I entered through the bridge to ask for protection

for me and my granddaughter.

And then they come through Ciudad Juárez,

and they turn themselves in at the port of entry and ask for asylum.

She's fleeing for her life, but she did it the correct way.

Why? 'Cause she went to the port of entry and basically turned herself in.

It's not like she was hiding,

she was trying to be smuggled in the trunk of a car.

She did it the right way.

My grandmother did all she could to get me here alive and well,

but Immigration separated us.

I was released from the shelter after two months...

and she remained in detention...

another month and then another one...

I've been here for 17 months.

I've been here for a long time already.

I don't know why Immigration won't let me leave.

I don't owe anything.

Only because I came to ask for protection from this country.

This is a transient place. It's only, like, temporary.

It's not meant to hold people for years or months.

But Congress said that when you enter illegally like that,

you don't have a right to a bond,

and the only way that you can get out is at the discretion of ICE.

- And ultimately, it's your decision? - Yes, it is. Yes.

You have to look at four factors, okay?

The four factors is: One, her identity.

Is this the person that they say they are?

Her identity is not questionable.

Here's her birth certificate. Here's her passport.

Here's her national ID.

Do they have a support system in the United States?

She has a daughter in Houston who's been living there for many years.

Are they a flight risk?

Are they gonna disappear once we release them?

Are we gonna be able to find this person?

She has a fixed address.

She's got bills to prove that it's a fixed address,

that it exists. It's not a made-up address.

The fourth piece is: Are they a threat to the community?

Have they been involved with alien smuggling?

Have they been involved with any kind of trafficking?

If those areas can be clearly satisfied,

the consideration should be to grant a parole to someone.

So we've proved all that. And so, what Congress said is,

"If you can prove all that, and you can show

that it is not in the interest of United States government

to hold you or to detain you, you're not a threat

to the national security of the United States,

you're not a threat to the community,

"then by all means, you should be released."

But ICE says, "No."

Even if you prove that, so what?

We're under a new administration. We don't give a shit.

We're gonna hold you. We're gonna make it hard for you.

You know why? 'Cause we don't want you here.

We want you to go back." That's the message.

The evidence that we've seen,

we think that ICE is using people like Berta as a deterrent,

as a motivator to send the message,

"Don't come. Don't ask for asylum, 'cause you're gonna be held for this long."

So we believe that. Of course, it's kind of hard to prove, right?

'Cause ICE is not gonna admit to that.

I'm not attributing this to anyone. This is my own personal opinion.

I do believe that it's the strategy.

It is the strategy to tear families apart,

which to me is unconscionable,

and bring them maximum pain,

and use it as a deterrent.

Hey, folks, it's Congress member Nanette Barragán.

We're here at the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry.

I just crossed,

and I heard a gentleman presenting himself for asylum at the port of entry here

and was told that he can't. He has to go back.

Officer came over. I was very...

You know, wanted to know what the issue was,

and she said that they're not taking people

at the ports of entry, and he had to leave.

I'm a member of the United States Congress.

- Okay, can I have your card, please? - Here's my federal ID.

And here they are trying to get this gentleman to leave

who's trying to present himself for port of entry.

This is what is happening at the border.

At first, you know, you may think that

maybe this is just one rogue officer here on the border.

What was really happening was these orders were coming

from the Trump administration, from Washington, DC.

You testified...

that asylum seekers are not being turned away

at the ports of entry.

Was that your testimony here today?

They are not turned away. They are brought...

Well, let me tell you, Madam Secretary, either you're lying to this committee,

or you don't know what's happening at the border.

And I have been there firsthand, and I have seen it twice.

He has no documentation, and Runami will take him to the area

and put him on the list.

Can you produce every list at the port of entry that's under US...

We do not have the list, to be clear. The list is in Mexico.

So you have the authority to do a list,

but you don't have access to a list, and you don't control that list?

The list for asylum applications is handled

by a group of asylum seekers who are also on the list.

Whoever wants to sign up,

here is our comrade that will start signing people up.

Every day, US Immigration tells the Mexican government

how many people they will be letting in.

Your husband is not on here.

He should be right after you or after your daughter, but he's not.

If his name is not there, you can't go through,

and you have to put your name on the list again.

In two or three weeks, come back and check again what number we are at.

- Two weeks? - In two to three weeks.

Why does an agency

that has one of the biggest budgets of the US government

cannot make their own list?

Why are they asking immigrants in the shelters

to manage some kind of list

that the US government has the responsibility to do it?

So it was like an unofficial but official policy.

It was like a mechanism to stop them from seeking asylum.

We're not talking about people who are coming in the trunk of a car,

or they're hiding. We're not talking about terrorists.

We're talking about families, kids, innocent people

who are just trying to do this the legal way.

This Trump administration always says,

"Well, why can't they just do it the right way?"

But the truth is they designed this

to make sure that these folks would give up.

Every single one of these cases represents a mom, a dad, or a spouse,

somebody we resettled, who came lawfully

and applied through the lawful process to bring their family members here,

and they're still not here.

Every single file represents... families.

They're from all different parts of the world,

and the thing they have in common is

that they're not able to live with their family members,

despite the law saying they can.

When I started as a volunteer, you know, 20 years ago,

helping refugees, this wasn't controversial.

And how it's become such a political issue

in a way that it's never been in the past.

This administration is trying to shut the doors.

You followed all the rules, and you applied five years ago,

and our government said you could bring your family,

and now, when they try to do that, they're just stuck.

No one's denied the case, but they're not moving them forward.

The law said they could bring their family members here,

and we can't seem to manage to make that happen,

and that's a disgrace.

- Deborah, are you ready to do this today? - Mm-hmm.

So, this is what we're definitely kind of targeting today

is removing all this,

taking a skin graft from the thigh and releasing this contracture

and reconstructing with a skin graft there.

Let's do this. We're gonna lower your back down a little bit.

Deborah, you take care, hon. Good luck.

- I'm strong with all of you here. - You are.

- You can do this. - Yes, you are.

My name is Deborah Baliraine Jane.

I am originally from Uganda.

I am a survivor

of an acid burn.

And the burn happened in 2014

after I had separated with the father of my children.

It was one afternoon.

Somebody knocks.

The children run. They told me, "There are two men at the gate,"

and they say they have a message...

"from Daddy."

I saw him with a jug,

and he was just set to pour something on me.

I felt something cold.

The cold turned into burning.

The clothes that I had put on fell off my body into ash,

and my whole body was...

Just like you would feel

your body on a grill.

And this was one week after the burn.

We found Deborah here in Mulago Hospital

testing the extent of damage acid could have brought unto her.

In Uganda, acid violence almost always leaves victims

with severe physical, psychological, and social scarring.

God spoke to me,

and it is one testimony

that I always give to the few people that I talk to.

At that moment, he told me, "Do not be afraid."

I just heard this in my heart.

"Do not be afraid. You're not going to die."

I was accepted by the US government.

With my case, they promise me

that I'll be able to have my children within a year or even less,

but they're not here with me.

Nobody chose to be a refugee.

I was born and grew up around the civil war.

If something happens, my mom will tell us, like,

"Hit the floor. Cover your head. Stay there.

Just act dead." That's the only way you would survive.

It's the UN's job to provide protection.

Then you can apply for resettlement to a third country.

So, a small number of people get this option.

Then there's all kinds of background checks that happen.

The whole process takes at least two years to complete.

There are all these international agencies that check data,

and if they have any doubt, you're out.

I mean, there are lots of people they will just disqualify.

You do not even know where you're going to get resettled.

You request, but you do not know.

You do not have any idea of where you're going to go.

The people who actually make it all the way through the process

and arrive in the US are a very, very, very select few who are more vetted

than just about any other immigrant population in the world.

They will select less than 1% of people that they screen

to be referred for resettlement

because the number of slots is so low

that the UN is only referring cases

where the straits are just incredibly dire.

For many years, leaders in Washington brought large numbers of refugees

to your state from Somalia.

Since coming into office,

I have reduced refugee resettlement by 85%.

The Trump administration is slashing the number of refugees the US will admit

to a new record low.

The cap for 2019 now set at 30,000 people.

The presidential determination numbers include my son.

So, the more they lower...

my hopes go down.

It reduces the chances of me uniting with my son.

The president issued an executive order in the fall of 2017

that ended family reunification for refugees and asylum seekers.

It said, "You can come here,

but then you can't bring your family after you."

And we brought a lawsuit, and a judge ruled that that was illegal,

that they couldn't shut down the family reunification program.

And so what they've done instead

is just sort of refuse to process those applications.

I received a communication from the National Visa Center.

They normally say 30 days...

that they'll be giving them a date for their interview.

We came to two months. We came to three months.

We came to five months. We came to a year.

It is now one year and so many months.

I have never got any other communication.

Thank you all for making time to be here.

Amnesty International has been working on issues of family detention

in the immigration sphere for many, many years now.

We, along with many others in the United States,

have been dismayed about the policies that have been adopted

in the last few months and last couple of years

under the Trump administration.

It's important to recognize also

that these are not accidental human rights violations

in any effort to enforce the law.

They're deliberate efforts

to undermine the legal protections for asylum seekers

that the US has integrated into US law.

We on the border, we are a laboratory.

In other words, the Trump administration has been experimenting in our region,

and they see what works,

and then they take those bad actions and apply them nationwide.

And basically, what we're seeing on the border

is the criminalization of asylum seekers.

A mother that comes with her children,

that's, you know, running away from a really bad situation

is being treated like a criminal, not only under this administration...

It starts from CBP...

to US Border Patrol...

to the judges even, now.

Because the immigration judges on the border are not independent.

They have horrible records, almost a 98% denial rate.

We see the people that go back and die.

At least five of my clients have died because judges have denied asylum.

I've had clients where they're...

I had one client where her brother was cut into pieces,

and we had all the forensics reports, and the judge says, "I don't believe her.

Yeah, that happened. So what? She can go back."

Where are you coming from?

Guerrero, Mexico.

Your civil status? Single, married or domestic partnership?

They killed my husband.

Widow.

- How many children do you have? - Four.

The reason why you left? Economic, social, security?

Because they killed my husband, and now they are after me.

The House is a shelter that can hold men, women,

children and families

that have left behind their home, family, culture.

Many things that, for the time that they stay here,

they can obtain something that they have left behind.

Our number one job is to guide and support them

so they can achieve their dream of migration.

In the past, a family from Central America could go

to the bridge, and they could pass.

But now, they can't.

Now, there's an order and a negotiation with ICE

that we receive asylum seekers.

Number 4290 for Maritza.

We give them a bracelet with a number we can track.

And through that list, we work with ICE.

They tell me, "We will accept 30 migrants this morning."

When they don't accept migrants during one day,

people start accumulating for me here.

We want to do things right. That's why we are here.

They gave us a number.

From here, we are taken to the border,

and we don't know what the process is there.

This is the bracelet.

Everybody has one?

Yes.

Because we want to do things right, and we want to go to the US to work,

to prosper, to do things well.

President Trump said he wanted things to be done legally.

So we are doing it in a legal way.

We are going about it the best way possible.

We don't want problems. We want to be accepted there.

We left Cuba for security.

Every time Cubans are deported back to Cuba,

they disappear.

You cannot find them.

We are prepared to be detained.

People say one, two, three or six months.

This is what they say, but we don't know how long.

4234,

4235, 4236,

4237,

4238,

please gather your things quickly

and make a line in the guards area.

Line up by number, please.

This is the documentation of evidence

for when my husband was beaten and hospitalized in Cuba.

Medical certificate. The injuries. The things that happened.

I'm not afraid of being detained there because...

I am confident of what I feel, of what I have lived in my country.

I am clear about explaining my situation.

And nothing can be worse than what I lived through in my country.

The people that have...

Like, bad stuff is happening in their country

the ones that are seeking asylum, but...

you actually see the trauma they've gotten in their country, and that's...

to me, I kind of feel sad for 'em.

I hate to see people come in like that, but...

I just...

I just... I don't know. I don't wanna say, "That's life,"

but people shouldn't have to go through that.

But it's happening more than we realize.

I hope and wish to be in detention.

Depends if they find our fear credible or not.

I hope to get it right. We all hope to get it right.

Let's see what happens in the end.

And I'm sure there is cases

that they are legit, and they're asking for asylum...

and, of course, they deserve that, but a lot of people are just doing it

just because they know the system...

and try to work it in their favor.

4231...

Let's go.

Take care. Good luck.

Thanks very much. Very thankful.

Good luck.

How many we got for today?

- Thirty-five. - Thirty-five? All right.

Are you nervous?

You are deported for 20 years, sir.

Mama, we are already on the transport to the border.

Yes, we are. I borrowed a phone to call you fast.

It's okay. I'll go in and see what the process is like.

Send the family my love.

Good morning. I'm a Mexican Immigration officer.

You are all going to Mexico.

Good luck, gentlemen.

Try to do it the right way.

Until recently,

if you came to the United States with a child and made an asylum claim,

the doors opened, and you could come into the United States.

Now, what that leaves out is that you are temporarily admitted

solely for the purpose of having your case adjudicated.

And if you do not have a valid claim,

you will then be subject to removal and removed.

But what gets told, what the migrants share back is,

"Oh, my goodness! You show up at the border.

You bring a child. They open the gates. They let you in."

And so one of the greatest ways to help alleviate that is

to no longer open the door.

And that is one of the programs that we now have is

that for those individuals who passed through multiple countries,

when they arrive at the United States, they have the chance to claim asylum.

But rather than the door opening

and allow them to come in while their case is adjudicated,

they remain in Mexico.

The Department of Homeland Security

is introducing the new Migrant Protection Protocol.

The new protocol stipulates

that once the credible-fear interview is complete,

immigrants are to be given a court date and a list of pro bono lawyers

before being sent back to Mexico.

They now legally, CBP was authorized to say,

"You will not come in. You will stay in Mexico."

Migration Protection Protocol is a joke.

Who are they trying to protect?

The change has been very drastic.

So, now, it's not the list. It's not the numbers.

Now, it's the returnees.

They were told, "Go back to Mexico

and return on August 20, October, November, December..."

We have people waiting until January of the next year.

The United States is returning massive amounts of people.

The biggest part is just beginning.

More than 10,000 asylum seekers at the southern border

have been sent back under the controversial Remain in Mexico policy.

There are literally thousands of people right now

in Ciudad Juárez

who have been turned back from the International Bridge

as they sought to seek asylum in this country,

trying to follow our own laws.

Thousands of people are running around in Ciudad Juárez.

They have no family ties. They have no jobs.

They want to end all asylum. That there is no more.

What I'm seeing, what I'm witnessing,

from not so long ago, just from a year ago till now,

it's extreme the changes that are coming.

Now we saw the beginning of the storm.

We saw the criminalization of the border people, asylum seekers.

We knew there was a storm coming on the horizon,

but we didn't know how bad it is.

And now that we're in the eye of the storm, it is horrific.

People sleeping under the bridge, tents. People sleeping outside in sleeping bags.

They call them refugee camps.

I don't know if this is a sustainable situation for Mexico.

As of this week, Tanya, the US has returned

more than 50,000 asylum seekers to Mexico.

How do we deal with almost 50,000 migrants?

Twenty-four hours a day!

In the morning, in the afternoon, at night, at dawn.

How do we deal with 50,000 migrants?

Impossible.

Our country is full. We're full. Our system is full. Our country is full.

Can't come in. Our country is full.

Some of the roughest people you've ever seen.

People that look like they should be fighting for the UFC.

They read a little page given by lawyers that are all over the place.

You know, lawyers.

"I am very fearful for my life."

"I am very worried...

that I will be accosted if I am sent back home."

No, no, he'll do the accosting.

The same tools that are being used to dissuade people,

to return people are being used in other programs.

You know, they're trying to destroy, dismantle the visas,

family-based immigration, consular processing, TPS.

The refugee program is under attack.

These policies are being used as a whole to attack the whole system.

They're trying to bring it down. They're trying to dismantle it.

What time is it there now? 9:00?

Yeah, it's 9:30.

Yeah, we're almost sleeping.

Have you finished having dinner?

Yes.

Say something, Koti.

Hi, Mommy.

Hi.

- Love you. - Love you.

Yeah, I miss them. I miss them.

But whenever I talk to them, I think you just see the smile can't stop.

Like, you keep thinking about them and...

If I got them together with me, then my life will be complete again.

So, these have been stuck, you know, waiting, waiting, waiting.

They finally got an interview,

you know, and so everyone's over-the-moon excited,

and then we get a notice of deferred decision.

"Your background checks must be completed."

So, we know that's the black hole.

She always come here to check her case.

Say, "Where's my daughter?"

So, up to now, almost three years she has been waiting here.

Like so many of these, they've had to start over,

even when they were ready to come.

Because of the president's orders, they've gotten stuck.

They're doing new security clearances, so she's probably in that line.

It sucks to give bad news every single day.

Or to give no news, which is bad news.

I'm sorry.

How these people can stand it, I don't know.

You know, the not knowing...

You know, why can't this mom, who's been through hell,

just live with her kids now?

Speaking for Deborah and...

what kind of security risk do you think this 15-year-old girl is?

We know everything about these people.

The fact that there needs to be more vetting,

more extreme vetting or whatever the hell they wanna call it,

is garbage.

It's another way of putting up a wall.

It's designed to make us fail.

So then you have a parent saying, "Well, what should I do?

I'm gonna go back."

Okay.

Try to be patient. I know it's hard.

There's nothing you can do if you go back to Nairobi.

You're not going to make the process go faster.

Don't feel like you should go there

because you think you need to do that to make something happen.

Okay.

We'll keep communicating.

I talked to my lawyer,

and she told me she doesn't think it may help.

I believe...

it would work better

if me, as a parent, walked into the embassy and...

physically and talked to them.

So I'm doing it my way.

I'm doing it my way.

I am so excited.

I bought jackets for them

because I have all the hope that I'm coming back with my children.

We are approaching the winter season,

and we don't have these kinds of jackets, you know.

So, this is for the baby.

I got the attack when she was five years.

So, that has really separated me from her.

And the last time she saw me,

she didn't want to stand near me.

She was scared of me, because of the scars that I had,

because of the pain that was all over my my face.

And she didn't want to see a mother who's crying all the time.

From the time I'll go and meet her, I'll make sure she's always close to me

so that I may get that connection again.

Even if it's been after years, I'm going to try and pull...

and pull it back.

Carrie is always near her siblings and caring so much.

By the time I left, she felt... all the responsibility of Mommy is on her.

I always tell everyone that I became a teenage mom.

Yeah, that was the feeling I got,

'cause my mom told me,

"It's up to you to try to show to the others

that they can lean on me."

When she comes,

I'm going to get someone to lean on.

But most of all...

when she comes, I can't imagine her going again.

Separation of families...

is something so painful.

It is the worst punishment that you would have given.

To a parent who is yearning for a child,

it is the worst punishment.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Nairobi, Kenya...

Oh, my gosh.

I've missed you for all these years!

Oh! Thank goodness Cuthbert has grown!

- This one is mine. - Yes. How did you know?

It's purple! Thanks.

- And this is for Cuthbert. - Thank you, Mommy.

For Caro, for Cynthia.

In the US, during the winter,

you put on your clothes, put on a sweater, and then put on the jacket.

So, that's when you can... And then you put on the gloves.

Then you can walk in that snow very well.

So, they really know how to dress up for those weathers.

That's why you see them naked

- during summer. - During summer!

The men walk on streets when they have not put on shirts

just like, you know, they are so happy for the weather to change.

While going to the embassy, I'll go with my dreads.

I will not put on any wig.

I want them to see the true Deborah.

- Yes. - Okay.

You can come in anytime between 1:30 and three o'clock.

- Okay. - Yes.

So, at the gate, they will be knowing that I'm coming in?

Yes, we'll be expecting you.

Thank you.

I think, at this time, please come just by yourself,

- not with the children. - Okay.

I'm going to the embassy

to request for the children to be interviewed,

because normally, after the interviews,

I think, the next step is always to go for medical, and...

and they come and join me.

You've been very strong, children.

You've waited for years.

They told me this is a system,

so we have to follow the system,

but now, we're sure they have our files.

At least we've got to the office. That is right.

And we may not go together on the 11th, but let's have the hope.

I don't want you to lose hope.

I'm not a very strong person,

so I don't want to talk much about leaving right now.

It makes me so sad.

- See you soon. - Yeah.

- See you soon. - See you soon.

- See you next week. - See you soon.

See you next week. Everything will be okay.

I got an email about your case,

and it's not... really unexpected.

Seemed like things were going along too quickly

and too good to be true.

"At present, it is impossible

to estimate how long it will take to make a determination on your case.

USCIS will notify you of the final decision once it is made.

We regret the delay and appreciate your patience."

I don't think it's going to take long since it was expedited.

The longest period that we take in this process is what they did.

- That's not... - Remember the background checks, though.

That's the period we can't predict how long that will take.

I mean, any sensible person would say it shouldn't take long,

but I think we can't predict that.

Hmm. That's true.

Deborah, now they'll always know you did everything you could for them.

They will always have that you went back to see them.

It will be well. It will be well.

Yeah.

- How are you? - Good and you?

- How are you? - Nothing, just nervous, my lawyer.

- Are you nervous? - Yes.

Well, here we are.

The court appeal was rejected.

Yes.

They are looking for me.

And they will kill me right away.

I don't want to...

- So you are afraid? - Yes.

I'm scared.

Since you are detained and we lost, we can file an emergency petition.

If we don't do anything,

the official said that they could take you by airplane in the next two weeks.

So we have very little time

to stop the deportation.

She's fair game right now to be deported at any time.

And that's the thing that... ICE has no duty whatsoever

to tell me when the exact time she'll be deported,

what airport, nothing.

Hello.

Rosi, Eduardo Beckett, from El Paso, your mother's lawyer.

When I went in the morning to look for her,

they told me they had taken her at 3 a.m.

When I went to look for her, they didn't tell me.

Immigration does it in secret.

I didn't have the chance to say goodbye.

The only thing I can say is that nobody can know she is back.

Gang members are always asking about her.

Things are very hard right now here in the United States.

May I have your attention? A representative...

He said 3450.

You see them?

I'm seeing them in my heart.

Hey, guys! Come running!

- Oh, my God! - Ha ha!

- Finally! - Yeah, finally!

Well!

I want a hug.

- I'm Angie. - I'm Cynthia. Hello.

- Cynthia, nice to meet you. - Thank you.

Welcome. I'm so glad you're here.

You know, your mom fought for you. She came all the time.

Don't cry. You're here with me. Finally, you're here.

Don't cry.

Yeah, you're finally here with me.

Finally, I have my children after four... five years.

Thank you.

It's hard to take the time to stop and celebrate

knowing there's so many more people,

and there's so much effort was put into this case, and...

I'm really excited for Deborah and her family to finally be together.

It feels like progress, but such small progress,

because there are so many other people whose cases aren't moving.

Welcome home.

Welcome home.

It took heaven and Earth

to try to get just these four Ugandan kids here.

So, it's celebratory for Deborah,

but for me to...

Now I'm, "Okay, who's next? Who do I think has the best chance

of some kind of extra efforts to move them along?"

And these celebrations are so few and far between.

This one's gonna have to carry us for a little while.

Hey, wait!

Sometimes, they tell us they're gonna return to their country,

and it is not true. They are going to try to cross.

But unfortunately, many people died.

Adults and children.

His father grew tired

of the long wait at the processing centers.

He was tired that his family was being delayed

and processed in the United States, their asylum claim.

So on Sunday, he decided to try to swim the river himself.

My husband, where is he? Where is my husband?

And the man who has just died with his daughter...

Where is he? Give him back to me!

That anguished me too much,

and for several days, I could not get that out of my mind.

Because I think he was also here with his daughter.

And that's what scares me.

That all this costs lives, innocent lives.