Border Patrol Agents Took Kid Away From Salvadorian Immigrant And Will Not Tell Him Where He Is

Jose Demar Fuentes is a Central American immigrant that came to the United States along with his son seeking asylum, however, as of last Thursday, Border Patrol agents took Fuentes, son, away from him and refuse to let him know his whereabouts.

According to Fuentes, in three separate meeting with Border Patrol agents, they told him that if he and 3 other fathers didn’t separate from their children that their immigration cases would have problems and that they would take longer. “The last time they said we’d better agree because it was ‘better to do it the good way and avoid using force in front of the kids,’” Fuentes told BuzzFeed News. “That made us all agree.”

The 30-year-old father is being held at the Otay Detention Facility in San Diego and was under the impression that he and son were going to get transferred to a detention center for fathers in Pennsylvania, however, the Border Patrol agents denied any knowledge of the said facility.

“They said if we cooperated and separated it would be easier. They told us it wasn’t possible to stay with our kids,” Fuentes said. “Now I realize it was a lie.” An official from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said that the Border Patrol transferred the fathers along with their kids into the custody of ICE were they were later separated.

After the men had verbally agreed on the separation, Fuentes alleges they were removed from the Border Patrol holding cell and then separated from their children. They were all given a phone number for the Office of Refugee Resettlement so they could check on their kids, but he claims that the agents will refuse to tell him where they took his 1-year-old son Mateo.

CBP has not responded any additional questions about Fuentes or the other 3 fathers but did point out that they have a strict family unity policy. “CBP will maintain family unity to the greatest extent operationally feasible, absent a legal requirement or an articulable safety or security concern that requires separation,” the policy said.

Alex Mensing, an immigration advocate with support group ‘Pueblos Sin Fronteras’, said that breaking families apart is a way for the authorities to strike fear in Central American immigrants who are thinking about making the journey with their families to the U.S. “It’s a deterrent,” Mensing told BuzzFeed News. “Immigration authorities also want to pressure single adults into long-term detention as a way to get them to abandon their claims and accept deportation.”

Olivia Caceres, the mother of Mateo and Fuentes’ wife who is currently in Mexico with their other kid, has expressed her anguish for not knowing where his son could be. “I just don’t understand why they would take him away from his father,” Caceres told BuzzFeed News. “Do they know about his food allergies? I’m worried he’s not sleeping because he’ll only fall asleep if we sing him a song. I’m so scared.”

Article inspired by BuzzFeed // Immigrant Father Says Immigration Agents Took His Infant Son And Won’t Tell Him Where He Is