In 2018, an Indigenous woman identified as C.M. and her 5-year-old son crossed the U.S.-Mexico border near San Luis, Arizona, seeking asylum. C.M., a Maya Mam native to Guatemala, told the border agents who apprehended her that she was fleeing life-threatening violence. But instead of asylum, the U.S. government — under secret policies enacted by the Trump administration — forcibly separated the pair. C.M. was sent to two detention centers in Arizona and then Nevada while her son, who spoke only Mam, was taken to a facility in New York. After 76 days and threats of deportation they were reunited. Traumatized by the experience, C.M. and four other parents affected by the policy sued in 2019 and last July reached a settlement with the Biden administration.
The family separation policy ended in summer 2018, but Indigenous immigrants, asylum seekers and advocates are bracing for similar policies during Donald Trump’s second administration. Trump has promised to end birthright citizenship, restrict protections for refugees and asylum seekers and carry out mass deportations. Indigenous people from Central and South America are often forced to leave home because of persecution and conflict over their land, desired by governments and corporations. When they seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico Border, however, they are caught in the teeth of the U.S. immigration system, which does not recognize their diverse identities, language needs or unique rights. “The ways in which the Trump administration truly impacted Indigenous peoples has not been adequately documented or quantified, but we believe that it was a large-scale human rights violation,” said Juanita Cabrera Lopez, who is Maya Mam and executive director of the International Mayan League, a D.C.-based Indigenous-led nonprofit.