This story was produced in collaboration with WKNO-FM public radio.
This house is teeming with children — kids who lost their parents in an ICE raid.
Among those arrested at the El Corralón restaurant and bar last month were two sisters from Central America. Combined, they had eight children, ages one through 16. After the women were taken into custody, their children are now living with their abuela, or grandmother.
“The kids often ask for their mom, and they ask why she is not coming back and why they are only speaking on the phone,” the grandmother said in Spanish.
Unable to provide answers, the grandmother tells the little ones that their mothers are on vacation.
“I mean, these things are very difficult to explain to children,” she said. “It’s really hard because (the one-year-old) stands by the door saying, ‘Mamá, mamá.’ He is very smart.”
On August 30, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 121 people during Operation Corral Light in Memphis. It was one of the largest mass arrests in a single day this year. ICE released the names of only five of those arrested along with criminal histories linked to them. Some of those charges include aggravated assault, larceny, and domestic violence. It is unclear if the remaining 116 had any criminal charges or convictions.
What is known is that as many as 20-25 children lost parents in the raid. And that, critics say, is one of the cruelest aspects of the immigration crackdown. Overall, an estimated 205,000 children have had at least one parent detained in the crackdown through April, according to the nonpartisan Brookings Institution.
In this crowded home five minutes from the El Corralón nightclub, nine people now occupy a small, two-bedroom house. During an interview with the Institute for Public Service Reporting, the one-year-old boy seemed happy, playing with his cousins. Nearby, his brother, 5, slouched on the couch.
“That kid wakes up in the middle of the night crying for his mother,” the grandma said, pointing at the five-year-old. The grandmother asked that The Institute not name her or her relatives for fear of retaliation.
The parents of four of these children were both patrons of the club that night. They are now in separate detention facilities.
The other father was deported last year following a traffic stop in Memphis. His wife, the mother of the other four children, was working at El Corralón on the night of the raid. Because she had a previous order of removal, she was flown to Central America a few days following her arrest.
During a phone interview with The Institute, the woman said she has reunited with her husband. However, being apart from her children is taking a toll on her mental state.
“I have been horribly depressed because I don’t have my kids,” the mother said. “My little one needs me, my baby, the youngest ones need me,” she said.
But a reunion isn’t so simple. Her children are all U.S. citizens. Without passports readily available or a signed power of attorney, that process is complicated, said Sandra Pita with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.
“(There are) so many kids that were left behind,” Pita said. “And sadly, parents didn’t (leave a) power of attorney.”
During a community event aimed at providing resources to families impacted by the raid, Pita said TIRRC plans to host a legal clinic for local immigrant families so they may be prepared in case of an ICE arrest.
“So, it is important if you are undocumented and you have not done a power of attorney, do it now. Because sometimes we don’t, we don’t want to talk about it, and we think that’s not a reality. But that’s the reality that we’re living (in). And if you want to protect your kids, make sure you do that.”
While mother and father are in legal limbo, the oldest grandchild, a 16-year-old high school student, is now helping to raise his younger siblings and cousins.
“I try my best to be strong, you know, to not let myself down,” the teenager said, “so my little cousins and sisters that they can see that, like, it’s like to keep going, not to feel sad and to feel depressed.”
His mom is detained in Basile, Louisiana; his step-dad, in Mason, Tennessee. They are looking for an attorney.
Meanwhile, the grandmother is getting by with support from groups like Vecindarios 901 and community members who are bringing food, gift cards, mattresses, and more.
Still, some support can only come from above.
At night, in prayer, she asks: ¿Qué va a pasar con los niños, Señor? – “What is going to happen with the kids, Lord?”
