http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/03-07/03-08-07/03local.htm

Children of immigrants spend night without their mothers 
By Jack Spillane, Standard-Times staff writer 

Carlos Miranda didn't know what to do with his 9-month-old daughter,
Christhi, Tuesday night. 
Her mother, Marisela Inestruza, had been swept up in the raid of illegal
immigrants at the Michael Bianco Inc. plant that morning, just one day after
she started work at the bag factory. 
In the evening, his daughter was sick without her mother, said Mr. Miranda,
a 24-year-old illegal Honduran immigrant who has been in the United States
for four years. 
"The baby, she doesn't know where her mother is," he said through a
translator at a press conference called by local advocates for immigrants
yesterday. 
"She is kind of convulsing, looking everywhere, trying to breast feed from
(me)." 
Mr. Miranda feels he is on the verge of being granted political asylum (due
to political violence in his home country), but he said he is now willing to
leave America. 
Even though he pays taxes and medical insurance through his payroll
deductions, the construction worker said he will leave if he can just be
reunited with his family. 
"I need to be with my wife and my daughter," he said. "My daughter is
suffering a lot and will die without her mother at her side. 
"If we're not wanted here, then we should just leave," he said. "We don't
want to be a burden here; we just came to work." 
Mr. Miranda said Marisela called him on her cell phone yesterday morning and
said she was "hopeful" she would be released; however, he had received no
final word by last night. 
Greater New Bedford social service agencies that advocate for immigrants -
along with several Catholic priests who work with Latinos - called on
SouthCoast to rally behind the detained immigrants, particularly the mothers
who have been separated from their children. 
"This is not a legal issue at this time; this a humanitarian issue," said
Bethany Toure of New Bedford Community Connections. Breast-feeding babies
will soon be in a situation where they need to be weaned by fathers who
don't know how to do that, she said. 
Corinn Williams, director of the Community Economic Development Center, said
the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on the Michael Bianco factory
has had "a devastating impact," tearing apart families. 
"We demand that these mothers be returned to their children as soon as
possible," she said. 
Advocates estimated that 70 local children went without their mothers
Tuesday night.

More.
Contact Jack Spillane 
at [log in to unmask]

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=187151
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=187030


Judy Ritchie

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