I met Norma about 2 years ago in Houston. Norma is an amazingly wonderful and warm human being. She always has a smile on her face, and is never afraid of hard work. I so admired her for her friendship and her dedication to her family.

I recently got to meet her daughter, Erica. A beautiful young lady of 20 who is just getting started in life.

For most of her life, Erica didn’t worry that her parents, both from El Salvador, would be deported. They have been in the US for over 20 years, got married in the US, and had three children born in the US. Both met with Immigration Officials regularly. Then in August, all of that changed. Her Mom, Norma, had recently been recovering from abdominal surgery and wanted to make sure she did not miss her Immigration Appointment. Despite being ill, she went to her regularly scheduled appointment, and was immediately arrested. She was put in chains and shackles and sent to a detention center, and was sent back to El Salvador within days. In the detention center she was subject to inhumane conditions, scalding hot water to shower in, dirty water to drink, and chains that ripped open her sutures from her recent surgery. She needed to go to the detention hospital for antibiotics. She did not get to see her husband or her children before she was forced to leave.

She did not get a hearing but was deported through a process called expedited removal, which bypasses a court hearing before an immigration judge. People who have been in the U.S. for more than two years are not subject to expedited removal unless they sign a document waiving their right to go to court.

She was forced to leave three daughters, all under the age of 21, in the US. Her husband, now a green cardholder, already working 10-hour days, now needed to become both mother and faither to their daughters.

She is staying with her mother and father in El Salvador in what was a one bedroom house with no air conditioning.

There is a path forward to bring her home, but it is long and costly, but we are committed to bringing her home, as well as helping the family to unite in El Salvador for Christmas.

I am asking you to please help us raise funds for Norma and her family. To bring her back home. To give three girls their mother back, and reunite this family.

This is what we have already accomplished, and what else we need to do.

Completed:

We were able to complete add to the house in El Salvador to build an extra bedroom, repair the roof and add air conditioning – so Norma could recover from her surgery, and postop infections.

Still to do:

1. Complete I-130 form to petition for Norma to become a permanent resident as the wife of a green card holder, and then she can apply for her own green card. This costs $5,000.

2. After the I-130 is granted, we need to file form I-601, or a waiver of forgiveness related to the reason for deportation. This likely will cost another $5,000

3. Then Norma will need an appointment with the US Counselors office in El Salvador. If approved, she can finally come home.

4. While we wait for the forms to make their way through the US government, we are sending Norma’s girls to El Salvador so they can be with their Mom for Christmas This will likely cost $3,000.

Please help in any way you can. We don’t care about politics, only that we unite this family again.