Child of deported immigrant to Trump: 'You tore our world apart'

Democrats on Wednesday night attacked Donald Trump’s immigration policies, featuring the story of an 11-year-old girl named Estella, whose mother — the wife of a U.S. Marine — had been deported.

Estella’s family’s story went viral in 2018, when her mother, Alejandra Juarez, was deported to Mexico, despite the fact that she had no criminal background and her husband was a Military member who had served overseas.

Trump has made a habit of smearing immigrants since launching his 2016 campaign, calling them criminals, drug dealers, and rapists, and trying to make it harder for all immigrants to come to the United States.

Trump has also tried to cancel the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as minors to remain in the country to attend school and work — though the Supreme Court recently blocked him from doing so temporarily.

Estella highlighted the devastating impacts of Trump’s policies in an open letter Wednesday night, telling him that his administration’s practice of deporting undocumented immigrants with no criminal backgrounds, and separating children at the border from their parents, was hurting people.

From Wednesday night’s session of the 2020 Democratic convention:

Dear Donald Trump,

 

My name is Estella. I am 11 years old.

 

My mom is my best friend. She came to America as a teenager over 20 years ago without papers in search of a better life. She married my dad, who served our country as a Marine in South America, Africa, and Iraq.

 

My mom worked hard and paid taxes, and the Obama administration told her she could stay. My dad thought you would protect military families, so he voted for you in 2016, Mr. President.

 

He said he won’t vote for you again after what you did to our family.

 

… Instead of protecting us, you tore our world apart. … Now my mom is gone, and she’s been taken from us for no reason at all.

 

Every day that passes, you deport more moms and dads and take them away from kids like me. … You separated thousands of children from their parents and put them in cages. Some of those kids are now orphans because of you.

 

… Mr. President, my mom is the wife of a proud American Marine and a mother of two American children. We are American families. We need a president who will bring people together, not tear them apart.

 

Sincerely, Estella.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.