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John, On August 2, 2017, ICE deported my little brother Frankie to Mexico. Escaping violence, my mom brought Frankie to Arizona when he was just a few months old. Flagstaff was the only home he knew. He was active in the LGBTQ+ community, cared deeply for his friends, family, and his clients in group homes where he was a caretaker. He did the best he could with the cards he was dealt. An unscrupulous lawyer, who eventually lost her license, mishandled his DACA application and Frankie was left without the ability to work and drive. His life-long struggle with depression led to drugs. Our immigration system pushed him to live in the shadows of the society. Eventually, he was arrested and sentenced to jail to pay his debt. While incarcerated, he completed a comprehensive treatment program and felt positive and good about living a life without drugs. Instead of being released back to us—his family — he was picked up by ICE and deported after a brief detention. On October 2, 2017, in Mexico, he took his life. He was 26 years old. He couldn’t imagine living without ever seeing our mom in a place where he was a stranger mocked for his imperfect Spanish.
Frankie was American in every way, just lacked a piece of paper. Thirteen congressional cycles went by during Frankie’s life in the US and political elites did nothing for people like him. And when he needed the help most—when he was arrested—most people in power turned their backs on him. But not Eva. She was one of the very few people who stood by Frankie publicly, helping to raise money for the immigration part of his case, knowing he was facing drug charges, knowing that her support would attract attacks on her. She saw a human being in Frankie, she understood that Frankie struggled with illness and that help was unavailable to him because he didn’t have a piece of paper. Frankie will be forever 26 and I will do everything I can so nobody has to suffer the way my little brother did. This is why I want to see Eva in Congress. She sees the failures of our non-existent mental healthcare system, our unjust justice system, and cruel immigration policies. She understands how these issues intersect and she will always put people first. Dulce |
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