Separated for Decades, Mothers Reunited with their Children

“My role as a mother has always been different because it’s been painted with sadness.” --Reyna Interiano, El Salvadorian mother of three children

Mother’s Day this year is especially significant for Reyna Interiano and Mercedes Pablo Pablo, both mothers from Central America who have had to endure years of separation from their beloved children. Seventeen years ago, Reyna (with her daughters and grandson below) made the difficult decision to immigrate from El Salvador to the U.S., leaving her two daughters--Maritza and Nuria--in the care of relatives back home. As heartbreaking as it was for her to leave her young children, not knowing when she would see them next, Reyna felt that finding a well-paying job in the U.S. was the only way that she could sufficiently provide for her children’s futures. “The only thing that can separate a mother from her children is her wish to give them a better life,” she said with the flame of resilience in her eyes. However, despite frequent phone conversations over the years, Reyna says that the thousands of miles of distance between them became a “burden on my heart.” She felt powerless to protect her children, especially as violence in the country escalated. At one point, Nuria was threatened by the MS 13 gang and could not leave the house.

Mercedes’s family has also endured the pain of separation. Eight years ago, her husband Cristino left Guatemala to find work in the U.S. so that he could support the family and provide for his

children’s futures. Mercedes stayed behind with their four children--Lucia, Anjel, Santos, and Mariano. As a single mother caring for four young children in Guatemala, Mercedes faced many challenges. “Strange men would come up to ask me where my husband was, if he had left me, or if I was a widow,” she recalls. One day, her son--scratched and bruised--came home from school early, having been beaten up by other boys. At times like those, Mercedes says she felt “so vulnerable” and incapable of protecting herself and her beloved children.

A few years ago, both families applied to be reunited in the U.S. through the Central American Minors (CAM) Program. As of October 1, 2014, the U.S. government launched an in-county refugee processing program for ummarried children under the age of 21 in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala who have families of some authorized immigration standing in the U.S. This means that qualified children now can be legally processed as refugees while in their home countries and no longer have to go through dangerous and illicit channels to reach safety.

The CAM Program was created in 2014 by the Obama administration, amid escalating concerns that children from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala were risking their lives to embark on dangerous journeys through Mexico to reach the U.S. border. The CAM Program provides a safe and legal alternative for Central Americans under 21 to join their parents with legal residence in the U.S. Last year, the program expanded to allow refugees in the U.S. to apply for their children to join them in safety. Since the creation of the program, the IRC has successfully guided many clients through the application process to be reunited with their children.

“The IRC has been privileged to reunite dozens of families in the last year through the CAM-AOR program. The Pablo Pablo and Interiano families are great examples of how CAM-AOR allows children who have been victims of violence in El Salvador to restart their lives in the U.S. with their parents.” -Amir Music, IRC Immigration Manager

With assistance from the IRC, Reyna applied to the CAM Program in June 2015, requesting that Maritza and Nuria join her in the U.S. The application process took nearly two years to complete, by which time Maritza had an infant son, Edward. In January of this year she got to see her daughters’ beautiful faces for the first time in seventeen years and meet her grandson for the first time ever. The last time Reyna had seen them, Nuria was only fifteen months old. Now Nuria is 19 and Maritza is 22. Reyna rejoices that she is finally able to share daily memories and experiences with her daughters and grandson, and she thanks God everyday for their reunion. Even though she was not able to be with her daughters as they grew up, she is overjoyed to be a part of her grandson’s life as he grows up in a new country.

Mercedes’s husband Cristino also applied through CAM for their four children to join him in the U.S. Two of their children--Santos and Mariano--were eligible, so in December 2016 Mercedes, Santos, and Mariano arrived in the U.S., embracing Cristino for the first time in eight years. Even though Mercedes can’t help but miss and worry about her other two children, Lucia and Anjel, whose ages precluded them to immigrate through the CAM Program, she is so happy to be living with her husband and two sons. Santos has found a job as a painter, and Mariano is taking English classes through the IRC.

Click here to learn more about the IRC’s immigration program.