“What would happen to our children?”
Since 2015, a coalition of non-profits, including Catholic Charities, Community Legal Center, Latino Memphis and Mid-South Immigration Advocates, has worked together to offer workshops on the process of applying for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). Beginning this year, the DACA workshops have been suspended and the “MEMigration” coalition has offered “Know Your Rights” information sessions providing FBI background checks, FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests and powers of attorney free or for low bono fees.
There were six sessions between 2015 and 2017; all with several hundred people attending to get advice from legal experts and help allay their fears. This film tells the story of two families who attended one of those sessions together. The families are friends. They are neighbors and attend the same church. One had concerns about their legal status and their four children, ages 1-12, all born in the US. The other came to support their friends and to sign papers to be able to care for the children in the event their Mexican parents are detained or deported. Though they have grown children of their own and even a grandchild the age of one of their friends’ children, this couple felt it was the right and only thing to do and says they would hope that someone would have done it for their children if they had faced the same situation. They are living what their faith teaches, that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. The parents of the children are relieved and grateful. They feel better knowing that someone they trust and who loves their family will be there for them and their children.
