Loading ...At 9 He Lost His Mom to Gang Violence. At 12 He Lost His Dad to Trump’s Immigration Policies.
A father pleaded for asylum for his 12-year-old son. Instead, the Trump administration deported him and put his son in a shelter. Now the family cannot get the boy out.
By Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Ms. Cornejo Villavicencio is an Emerson Fellow and a graduate student at Yale University.
When Brayan was 9 years old, in 2016, his mother was brutally raped and murdered in Honduras. Her body was found in a septic tank. When Brayan saw her in the coffin, she was so disfigured that he couldn’t recognize her. She had been seven months pregnant. That’s when his nightmares began, his fear of the dark. His mother’s boyfriend had abused her and was arrested in the killing, but he claimed it was a gang killing and was set free. He threatened Brayan and his father, José, so José vowed to bring Brayan to safety in the United States. The opportunity to travel there safely arrived this year.