All About Family
A Brave Journey to Reunification
Like many migrants across the globe, Rocio and her husband Ernesto dreamed of coming to America. Today, the couple and their children live that dream in Toms River. Rocio’s three youngest children attend school and love learning, and her son and husband work.
Rocio is taking ESL classes and loves spending time with her new granddaughter, born last December. “I feel very blessed and I thank God every day,” she said.
She is especially grateful for Community Services Case Manager Kaira Marinez, who was assigned to assist Rocio’s family through the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Service’s (USCCB/MRS) Family Reunification Program.
Kaira helped Rocio’s family get acclimated. She helped them find a place to live, enroll the children in school and sign up for health insurance. For Kaira, the experience has been gratifying. “Sometimes immigrants don’t know how to proceed. But Catholic Charities is here to help.”
Kaira feels privileged to have been able to assist the family. “They are so close to one another. Learning about their experience and knowing how traumatic their journey to America was, I feel blessed to have been able to help them.”
Searching for Something Better
Last year, Rocio and Ernesto made the gut-wrenching decision to leave their home in Puebla, Mexico and embark on an 800-mile trek to the United States. Jobs in Puebla were hard to come by and living conditions were poor. The couple’s plan was to travel to America, find jobs and send for their children: two sons ages 16 and 11, and two daughters ages 15 and 8.
Rocio said the hardest part was saying goodbye — even though the arrangement would be temporary. She said they begged her not to leave. Rocio said she entrusted her children to a neighbor she felt would take good care of them. It was a leap of faith, but they saw no other way. Rocio left money to pay for her children’s food and care.
Barriers at the Border
It took three days of traveling by bus to reach the Texas border. Cold when they arrived, it was the first time Rocio had seen snow. People were standing huddled together in groups for warmth. The bitter weather didn’t sting nearly as much as being refused entry.
On their first attempt, Border Patrol Agents turned the couple away. It was a two-day walk back to where they were staying. But they were determined. Rocio made nine attempts before gaining entry on March 16. Her husband presented himself ten times before he was allowed through.
Rocio went to stay with their sponsor in New York. She waited and prayed Ernesto would gain entry so they could start on the next part of their plan — bringing the children to a new home.
Making a Bold Decision
During these months, life in Puebla was not going well. Their oldest said their caregiver was friendly at first, but soon began neglecting them. He couldn’t bear seeing his sisters and brother hungry, so he stopped attending school and started working to be able to feed them. But he could not earn enough, so he started selling their household goods and the appliances.
Discouraged and running out of things to sell, their son decided he and his siblings would travel to America to find their parents. The four set out alone, hitchhiking nearly 1,800 miles across Mexico to Tijuana. He said they mostly rode with tractor trailer drivers. As unaccompanied children, they were granted entry into the country and taken to a facility near the border operated by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Their eldest was separated from his siblings and said he worried about what was happening to them in the crowded camp.
With the help of USCCB/MRS’s Family Reunification Program, their son was able to call Rocio. That first phone call was a jumble of details. He shared many of the difficult encounters the children faced. Recalling the conversation, Rocio’s eyes welled with tears. She said when she hung up the phone, she was confused and unsure if all her children were in the country. She said it was stressful — not knowing what was happening and not being there to comfort them. During the next two weeks, calls volleyed back and forth. Paperwork needed to be collected and details ironed out. It took more than 20 days, but finally plans were made for reunification.
When she finally saw her children, Rocio wept tears of joy. She said she’s grateful they are all under one roof again and thanks God for the help they received from Catholic Charities.
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Rocio and her family received family reunification assistance from Catholic Charities and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.