News — TheBigFeature
When Will the US End Magdalena Hernández’s Family Separation Nightmare?
Border BorderPatrol Immigration Politics TheBigFeature
In the summer of 2019, Magdalena Hernández Pérez and I were outside her home on the edge of Cubulco, a small city four hours north of Guatemala City. As her grandkids played on the patio, Hernández, looking burdened beyond her 39 years, sat on a teal chair that matched the wall behind her. “Why didn’t they respect my rights?” she asked in Spanish, her voice shaking, her cries evoking the distinct guttural sounds I’d heard as my grandmother’s children stood over her casket. The “they” Hernández was referring to were US border officials. Two years before we met, in December 2017, they put...