Broken Hope

<p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>What if you were forced to pack your belongings and leave your family friends career home and life behind? Could you say good-bye to everyone and everything you love not knowing if you will see them again? That is what deportation is: permanent banishment from your home family friends and job from a life built over years. It is an extreme action that causes lasting harm to everyone it touches. </span></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>Broken Hope: Deportation and the Road Home</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)> is a collaboration between the OHIA and the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) that highlights the experiences hopes and dreams of 255 people who were deported from the United States as well as their loved ones. </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>They are part of OHIA's #ReuniteUS campaign which seeks to change policy so that more people who were deported can return.</strong></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)> As a result of deportation individuals and families including young children and people of advanced age experience:</span></p><p><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>Economic insecurity</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)> including lack of access to food housing health care and childcare; </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>serious mental health problems</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)> resulting in self-harm and long-term damage; Adverse Childhood Experiences toxic stress and </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>poor physical health</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>; </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>disruption of education </strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>and career goals; persecution exploitation homelessness and a</span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)> lack of safety</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>;</span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)> </strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>the stress and financial strain of </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>becoming a single parent </strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>unwillingly and overnight; </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>feeling powerless</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)> to help the people they love; and </span><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>fractured bonds and relationships</strong><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>.</span></p><p><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1); background-color: rgba(0 0 0 0)>But it doesn't have to be this way. The impact of deportation is a human-made problem and the solution is also in the hands of people. </span></p>