As a parent, you always want to do whatever you can to protect your children. When your own country makes that goal impossible, you want to speak up and bring attention to it. An Oregon mother recently found out how difficult it is to fight for your children when border patrol stops you. When she was taken by border patrol and customs alongside her children, her nightmare turned into reality.
TikTok user DrJenniferLincoln shared a video, bringing more attention to the victim, brought more attention to the victim, Jackie Merlos. Jackie, a mother of four, has a pending visa and her children were born US citizens. In the early summer, she was taken with her children by border patrol to a facility. They also took the father of her children. They were locked up “without access to a lawyer,” as Jennifer explains. The children have since been released but they have no access to Jackie or their father.
Jennifer goes on to say she needs to discuss “the abuse these kids suffered while they were detained.” They were kept in a small cell with their mom for weeks. Agents would sometimes remove them from their mother to be interrogated for hours. They were even threatened with foster care on multiple occasions. On top of that, immigration agents allegedly broke into Jackie’s home so they could steal birth certificates. They did this so that they could work on deporting them while their parents were still detained.
A judge discovered the children are, indeed, valid citizens of the US. When the children were at the airport, about to be deported, the judge put a stop to it just in time. But the horror remains as both Jackie and the children’s father remain locked up in an ICE facility. “As a former foster youth, threatening kids with foster care is absolutely sick,” one commenter said.
“This is abhorrent. This administration needs to be stopped. My heart breaks for everyone dealing with ICE,” another stated. And the bigger issue is the increased rate of ICE raids, so this will just continue to happen (and be recorded by bystanders).
