“I thought I would never get to meet my newborn,” Edwin Aly Ramirez says. That was his first thought after being detained by immigration in 2009 after going to court to translate for a friend — he was terrified that he would never see his wife or his three children, ages 10, 2 and 2 months, again.
With the help of the Bond Fund and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, Edwin was released on bond. He chokes up when he recalls his relief at seeing his three children. “I just want them to have a good life; a good education.”
Edwin came to the U.S. alone at age 13, sent here by his parents in an effort to protect him from the brutal civil war in El Salvador. “This is my country,” Edwin says, “I’ve spent more than half of my life here.” Edwin has lived in the United States for 20 years; he is now 33 years old.
“I’ve never had any problems. I’m not a criminal. I don’t drink. I only want to work for my children, for my wife, to provide for my family,” says Edwin.
When he was detained by immigration officers, they him hit him in the back, legs and stomach, says Edwin. “I love this country and look how they treat me. Like trash. Just because I am brown.”
