Last Wednesday night at the Rescue Mission shelter in El Paso, Texas, one-year-old Merianny Medina was insistent that I help her color in the fairy tale princess outlined in black and white in her coloring book. “Pinta,” she insisted. “Color with me.”
Her mother Roinnielys and her grandmother Rithmary brought her to the United States in a treacherous and dangerous one-month journey in search of a better future.
The journey through the Darién gap was filled with fear and death. Rithmary says she still lives those moments through her nightmares.
They all left Venezuela with little more than the clothes on their backs. The journey through the Darién gap was filled with fear and death. Rithmary says she still lives those moments through her nightmares: the countless bodies they passed by through the jungles, and the horrific exploitation they experienced throughout Mexico.
Through Rithmary’s tears, I could feel the agony of being separated from her husband. When they got to the U.S. border, the family of four surrendered to U.S. authorities and requested asylum. The women were processed and allowed in. Her husband was put in detention and told he will be deported.
Rithmary decided she will accompany her husband back to Venezuela, and her daughter and granddaughter will stay and continue their journey to the American dream. The prospect of separation overwhelms them.
“God will give me the strength,” Rithmary told me. “At least, I know that my granddaughter will have a better future here. One day, one day we’ll be able to see each other again.”
“The idea was that we would all come together and fulfill our dreams,” Roinnielys tells me. “Our common dream.”
This latest humanitarian emergency at the border is just one more chapter in America’s long history as a beacon of hope and opportunity for people across the world. Much of the current crisis revolves around Venezuela, which has now experienced the second largest exodus of people in…
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