National Public Radio

Originally posted on
(Peter Pereira / New Bedford Standard-Times)

I can safely say that this is the saddest story I've had to tell of an individual suffering from U.S. immigration policy.

I've written story after story about the suffering of individuals. No matter how much suffering migrants go through U.S. citizens just seem not to care, in effect, if not intent. Anti-migrant advocates actively ridicule dead migrants, and most progressives do nothing about it.

The New Bedford Standard-Times (please counter the hate people are spewing on this article) just published a story on the death of Ricardo Gomez Garcia.  He left an autistic child and his wife behind after the horror of New Bedford.  After fighting for five months in detention to stay in the U.S. he was deported back to Guatemala, where he made the choice to try and re-enter the U.S. again.  He met up with his family after the harrowing journey that I know so well, and fell ill.  After just 24 hours with his family, he died.

Skip to the end for how you can help.

The first time I learned about Garcia was a through a National Public Radio report on his family.  The report inspired me to write a comprehensive post on the New Bedford Raid.  I'm going to transcribe the NPR report below but keep in mind this was filed long before Garcia died.  Claudio Sanchez reports:

Claudio Sanchez: A three story apartment building at the end of a
narrow steep spiral stairway, a middle-aged woman no taller than
4'10'', black hair pulled tight in a bun, answers the door of a small
apartment.  A little boy clings to the woman's dress, he groans. 

"He doesn't speak," she says, "but he was born in this country". As if
that somehow made up for her son's disability.  We sit at a tiny table
against the kitchen wall.  It's really dark.  She's $200 behind on the
electric bill so she's trying to use as little electricity as
possible...

Juana in Spanish: "The problem that I'm dealing with right now...I am traumatized by the sadness of my husband..."

Claudio Sanchez: Her little boy, though, isn't eating well.  Today,
he's upset about something.  He thinks his father is coming home any
day, now.

Juana in Spanish: "He looked for him and showed me his clothes.  He showed me his
clothes and then looked towards the window, because he always looked
that way when he was coming home from work.  Once he saw him he would
wait for him at the door."

Claudio Sanchez: He points to his father's clothes in the closet and
stands by the window every afternoon waiting for him to arrive from
work.

Everything about this story points to love.  A lawyer describes Garcia's determination:

[Ondine Galvez Sniffin] noted that Mr. Garcia had a different
attitude than many of the Bianco detainees who were tired and ready to
go back to their home country.

I am running out to the NPR studio here in Manhattan to record another session of News and Notes with Farai Chideya.

We will talk about how steroids brought the downfall of Marion Jones, an MTV poll that says that white youth is happier than black, Juanita Bynum's messy divorce and .... prepare your selves ... why I hate the word Hispanic.

TADA!

Tune in today to your local NPR News and Notes schedule or catch the whole show online after 3pm.