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not earn enough money to support the family. When Benny’s truck was stolen, he
suspected drug traffickers were responsible; the police would not investigate.
Benny and the children returned to the United States. When Gabriela tried to join them,
she was caught and prosecuted for illegal reentry. She has been in federal jail since
September 2012. “Whether they deport her or release her here legally, we’re still a
family,” Benny said. “I can’t just leave their mom. I know it’s hard on the kids. What am I
to do? I don’t know what to do.” 141
The impact of family separation and prosecution falls not only on the defendants
themselves, but also on their US family members. Firdaus Dordi, an assistant federal
defender in Los Angeles, estimated that in 12 years of practice, among his clients alone,
about 6,000 US citizen children have likely been directly affected by illegal reentry
prosecutions of their parents. 142 For Heather Gonzales, whose husband and father of their
two children was deported and then prosecuted for illegal reentry, when the US
government “took away one illegal person, they ruined the lives of three US citizens.” 143
Several defendants told Human Rights Watch that they had come back because their
deportation had been hard on their children, the impact varying from depression and
decreased performance in school to abusive conditions that could have led them to end up
in the custody of the state.
Artemio Lechuga-Lechuga, for example, whom we interviewed in the federal detention
center in El Paso, Texas, told us he came back to the US because his 16-year-old daughter,
a US citizen, is mentally disabled and recently had become pregnant. 144 His wife, a
permanent resident, agreed that their daughter “started showing signs of depression more
strongly … [and] things got worse” when her father was deported in 2010. 145 The rest of his
family was suffering as well. He was concerned about his sons, including his 13-year-old
141 Human Rights Watch interview with Benny Lopez, Eagle Pass, Texas, September 19, 2012.
142 Human Rights Watch interview with Peter Kirchheimer, attorney-in-charge of the Eastern District Office, Federal Defenders
of New York, Brooklyn, New York, July 11, 2012; and telephone interview with Heather Williams, August 1, 2012.
143 Human Rights Watch interview with Heather Gonzales, March 24, 2013.
144 Human Rights Watch interview with Artemio Lechuga-Lechuga, El Paso, Texas, September 25, 2012.
145 Human Rights Watch interview with Adriana Quesado, El Paso, Texas, September 27, 2012.
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