'For my dad': Kids facing separation from parents following TPS termination stage play for lawmakers
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Campaign Action A group of U.S.-citizen kids who could become separated from their parents following the termination of their immigration protections traveled from the Boston area to Washington, D.C., last week to stage a play for lawmakers and aides feat'For my dad': Kids facing separation from parents following TPS termination stage play for lawmakers
Campaign Action A group of U.S.-citizen kids who could become separated from their parents following the termination of their immigration protections traveled from the Boston area to Washington, D.C., last week to stage a play for lawmakers and aides featuring their real names, their real stories, and their real fears. Should their parents lose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) without permanent protections from Congress, this will become the next family separation crisis. One of the participants was 17-year-old Jacqueline Landaverde, the eldest of four children. Like other teens, she wants a chance to continue furthering her education, but if her parents are deported to El Salvador, she may have to give that up to become her siblings’ new guardian. “I’m afraid I’ll have to give those dreams up and become a mother to my three younger sisters,” she said. This is a decision that no young person should ever be forced to make, but it could become a reality for thousands of other children of TPS recipients. Nearly a quarter of a million have TPS parents. Do they take their American kids with them to a country that isn’t theirs? Do they separate, maybe leaving them under the care of a relative? Or do they go underground together? It’s a heart-wrenching situation that “The Last Dream: Stories Created and Performed by the Children of TPS” hoped to convey. 13-year-old Brian Pineda, one of the 13 children who participated in the Boston Experimental Theatre Company production and was hosted by Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley, was asked by PRI’s The World why he was participating. “’For my dad,’ he said, bursting into tears.” Read more