Six years ago, a Mexican woman left her children in Tucson and went to Mexico to complete her application for a green card. That day, she found out she would not get the permit, and she could not come back into the country, banned for a decade.
In this episode of Metro Week, Arizona Public Media reporter Fernanda Echavarri and Arizona Daily Star reporter Perla Trevizo share part of their four-month-long documentary journalism project Divided By Law.
They profiled the children in the de la Rosa family. The four siblings and their father are U.S. citizens who live in Tucson. Their mother lives in Nogales, Sonora, as she waits four more years to reapply for a permit to come to the United States.
The reporters collaborated to profile the effects of an immigration policy on one Tucson family. The complexities and impacts are told through the eyes of each of the children who now care for their elderly father, and each other, as their mother waits for weekend visits, and for the years to pass as she lives and works in Nogales, Sonora.
Also in this episode:
- A slideshow preview of the reporting project, Divided By Law. Hear from Bill de la Rosa, one o the siblings in the family, describe how they have had to make a life without their mother's day-to-day presence.
-Echavarri and Trevizo describe their reporting process, including how they found the family they profiled, and the story shows about one immigration attempt.
-A Tucson Unified School District resource center aims to help children with extra needs beyond the classroom, including those who have challenging home lives, are homeless, or living in poverty. Director Alma iñiguez explains how the center does its work.
-Two adults who take classes at the resource center share how they will affect their parenting or volunteer work, and what they're learning.
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