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Podcasts Take Two
What happens to a child when a parent is deported?
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Apr 25, 2017
Listen • 8:44
What happens to a child when a parent is deported?
"When she got back, I just had to remember who she was because I was so young."
American citizen Lace Rodriguez and her husband Javier Guerrero from Mexico, embrace with their son Javier Jr. (3), on March 10, 2013 in Nogales, Mexico. The family lived together in Phoenix before Guerrero, an undocumented worker from Mexico, was detained by the Border Patrol, held for three months by ICE and then deported March 4 to Nogales, Mexico. Guerrero had lived in the United States for 17 years. He and Rodriguez, a medical student, have two children, and she is nine-months pregnant with a third. The splitting up of families has become a major issue as the U.S. works towards immigration reform.
American citizen Lace Rodriguez and her husband Javier Guerrero from Mexico, embrace with their son Javier Jr. (3), on March 10, 2013 in Nogales, Mexico. The family lived together in Phoenix before Guerrero, an undocumented worker from Mexico, was detained by the Border Patrol, held for three months by ICE and then deported March 4 to Nogales, Mexico. Guerrero had lived in the United States for 17 years. He and Rodriguez, a medical student, have two children, and she is nine-months pregnant with a third. The splitting up of families has become a major issue as the U.S. works towards immigration reform.
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John Moore/Getty Images
)

"When she got back, I just had to remember who she was because I was so young."

Two million kids in California have parents who are living here without legal status. And with the Trump administration ramping up deportations, the fear of separation is higher than ever. 

Romero Avelica-Gonzalez made headlines last month when he was taken into custody by ICE agents just after dropping his 12-year-old daughter off at school in Lincoln Heights. 

What happens to a child when a parent is deported? And what if that parent is the only caregiver that child has?

Elizabeth Aguilera has been reporting on this for CALmatters. She joined Take Two's A Martinez who also shared his own story of when his mother left the country.

To listen to the interview with Elizabeth Aguilera, click on the blue media player above.