September 23, 2025
Febe and Angelo Perez were asleep in their beds when immigration agents came for their mother.
Only 6 and 9 years old, the siblings – both US citizens from Texas – didn’t understand who the men in tactical vests were or what “ICE” was. And they didn’t hear an officer tell their mom, Kenia, that they would be picked up by Child Protective Services and placed into foster care if she couldn’t find someone to take care of them.
All they knew was that their mother, their only parent since their father died five years ago, was being taken from them.
“It’s stunning that we’re putting so much emphasis on hitting deportation numbers, and not thinking about all the collateral damage we’re doing,” said Leecia Welch, deputy litigation director at nonprofit Children’s Rights, who has been visiting families in immigrant detention centers to monitor conditions. “We’re traumatizing everybody involved in these situations and completely destabilizing their lives and causing long-term trauma.”