Lawyers Seek To Reunite Brazilian Refugees With Separated Children
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Attorneys for a Brazilian mother and two Brazilian fathers were in federal court on Thursday, trying to reunite three children with their families.
Two fathers from Brazil showed up at a border in New Mexico to apply for asylum, but attorney Amy Maldonado said they were turned away by agents who told them the border was closed. They were later arrested and forcibly separated from their sons.
Maldonado said the boys, ages 9 and 15, were brought to a shelter in the Chicago area, where they have been held for more than a month. She said their fathers are seeking asylum in the U.S. because they had been marked for death by organized crime groups in Brazil.
Both fathers remain locked up in New Mexico, while their sons are being detained more than 1,300 miles away. The older boy was in court Thursday morning, surrounded by attorneys. He turns 16 on Friday, and is hoping to be be able to celebrate his birthday with his father.
The younger boy was too traumatized to be in court. Neither boy speaks English, and their names have not been made public.
"They're children, and they were ripped away from their fathers completely in violation of the law. 100 percent. The fathers tried to turn themselves in at a port of entry to apply for asylum – asylum is a statute, it is the law – and the government turned them away telling them the border was closed. That's not a thing. The border cannot be closed," Maldonado said.
Meantime, attorney Jesse Bless will be back in a different courtroom Thursday afternoon, asking a judge to reunite 30-year-old Sirley Paixao with her 10-year-old son, Diogo.
Paixao, a Brazilian immigrant seeking asylum in the United States, was forcibly separated from her son after crossing the border on May 22.
Diego was brought to Chicago, along with more than 50 other Brazilian children separated from their families under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy on illegal border crossings.
Paixao was released from custody on June 13, after passing an initial screening determining she had a credible fear of persecution in Brazil. However, she was not given accurate instructions for how to be reunited with Diego.
Last week, Bless helped reunite another Brazilian refugee, Lidia Souza, with her 9-year-old son, Diogo.
Since Diogo and Diego were staying in the same shelter under the same circumstances, Bless had hoped federal authorities would release Paixao's son without a lawsuit, but they declined. Bless said Diego's mother had to break the news to her son.
"Personally, professionally, I've never been torn apart and heartbroken and had that complication of trying to be a representative for someone, but also being there for someone in need," Bless said. "It was, personally, truly horrific. For the mother, I can tell you, it was catastrophic."
He has filed another lawsuit seeking to force federal authorities to reunite Paixao and Diego.
U.S. District Judge Manish Shah was scheduled to hear Paixao's case at noon on Thursday.
Bless criticized the federal government for arguing in court that children who have been separated from their parents are "unaccompanied minors."
Shah rejected that argument last week when ordering Diego reunited with his mom, ruling that continuing to keep him separated "likely violates the law."
"How long are you going to hold onto this erroneous legal position that these children are unaccompanied? They're not unaccompanied minors. That's the legal position that the government has adopted, and that has been rejected repeatedly," Bless said.
