Immigrant parents in Minneapolis fear separation from kids

The fear of being torn apart from her little girl gnaws away at Nina, after thousands of US immigration officers were deployed by President Donald Trump to the midwestern city two months ago.  

"If we go out to work and they catch us, and my little girl is at school, what am I supposed to do?" Nina, a 25-year-old asylum seeker from Ecuador, told AFP, withholding her full name. 

"I can't do anything because they won't let me leave to get my daughter, and my daughter will be left all alone."

To protect Ayadana from being placed in the care of social services, Nina considered signing a Delegation of Parental Authority -- a document known as a "DOPA" -- naming a friend who holds a green card as the girl's legal guardian.

But Nina soon found herself despairing, once she realized she could not leave her hiding place.  

"I couldn't go out, go and sign this DOPA at the notary's office," she recalled. 

Nina, who keeps a hawk's eye on reports about raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in her neighborhood, only slips out of her home once a week, and always at night. 

- Transfer of parental authority - 

Daniel Hernandez, a 41-year-old local entrepreneur, decided to act to help immigrants in a similar jam.  

For weeks, Hernandez, who owns several grocery stores in Minneapolis, has been using the services of a local notary to pre-stamp DOPA forms.

He then makes house calls to immigrants to have them sign the papers. 

In his view, many immigrants, especially those who are undocumented, underestimated Trump's anti-immigration crackdown, the cornerstone of his 2024 presidential campaign.

"Once all the raids began happening, people realized this is real," Hernandez said. "I began getting a lot of calls telling me that they needed this piece of paper."

Since November, he had "signed up over 1,000 children" through these transfers of parental authority. 

"I have another 500 kids that are waiting, and I haven't answered a bunch of messages because I'm overwhelmed," he added.

Several organizations are running similar campaigns in Minneapolis. 

Beyond the shooting deaths of two US citizens and local residents who were opposed to the actions of federal agents, Minneapolis was rocked in January by the arrest of five-year-old Ecuadorian boy Liam Conejo Ramos. 

The photo of his face, lost under a rabbit-eared hat, strengthened Nina's resolve to protect her daughter, who is nearly Liam's age. 

"It really hurt me to see that child in that situation," Nina said. 

- 'A bit of safety' - 

The Trump administration maintains that Liam's father, who was the target of the arrest, requested the boy be detained with him in Texas. 

According to the family's lawyers, federal agents used the child to try to lure his mother out of her home in order to arrest her, and refused to let him stay there.

On Saturday, a judge ordered Liam and his father's release, but the ordeal has intensified the anxiety felt among immigrants in Minneapolis.

"Right now, unfortunately, we're in God's hands," said Richard Torres, a 39-year-old asylum seeker from Venezuela. 

His two-year-old daughter, who is autistic, and his wife were sent to Texas to be incarcerated, following a routine appointment with authorities to follow up on the couple's case.

The official reason for the pair's detention was that they missed a hearing, which Torres said was a "lie."

A judge recently acknowledged there was a mistake and ordered their release, but the debacle has left Torres, a hospitality worker, devastated. 

Torres now sees the delegation of his parental authority to a guardian as "the only way to ensure a bit of safety for our families and our children."

He said he feels reassured having a DOPA to entrust Alani's care to his wife's cousin, should the worst happen.

"She's not American," he said. "But she's the only person we really trust."

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