After years of supporting Yolanda and her work, I was most excited when Hector and Yolanda called me to tell me she would be crossing the border on June 3rd. Soon after crossing, they called again to let me know she had crossed and was once again starting life in the U.S. It was a most amazing time for us all.
12 years ago Yolanda was deported to Mexico, well Tijuana. She had no money and there was no support system for deported women. She was lost on a Mexican Border filled with chaos and crime.
Unscrupulous men would troll the deportation drop-off sites for deported women offering them a meal or a hotel room. And most often offered their phones so they could call their family to let them know where they were. These men were trying to lure these women into their confidence so that they might get them strung out on drugs and then traffic them into the sex market. By offering their phones these men had thus recorded the number or numbers of the deportee’s family.
Then these men would begin calling the family asking for a ransom and threatening the family that the woman would be harmed or killed.
Yolanda by some miracle avoided this level of entrapment and was left to find a most difficult path to survival. She was in a deep depression not wanting to even get out of bed to take care of herself. Her life had been destroyed by her deportation.
In addition, she could not see her daughter who lived only a few miles from the Tijuana border. Here she was the mother of a DACA RECIPIENT a Dreamer and she was being deported in 2010. What an irony that while her child could stay that she would be deported.
After four difficult years in Tijuana and suffering deep depression she one day realized that she was not the only Dreamers Mom who had been deported. Never having had to start an organization she knew she needed to do something for other women and in the process she would end up helping herself.
In 2014 she began to organize Dreamers’ Moms to help deported mothers. Soon many women came to her for physical, emotional, and psychological help. Other women both in Tijuana and the U.S. and others began offering assistance.
While in search of an office she found another fledging organization Deported Veterans headed by Hector Barajas which offered to share office space and expenses.
Years later Hector and Yolanda married and continued to work together on behalf of Dreamers Moms and Deported Veterans.
Hector along with other veterans and some moms have been able to get their records cleared and were able to cross over to the United States.
In 2018 I went to Tijuana in search of Deported Veterans. I could not believe that my government would deport veterans. Finding, at last, the Deported Veterans I found in the same office Dreamers Moms.
Yolanda did incredible work connecting with deported Dreamers Moms and other women who were being deported. In the process, they helped a lot of women survive and began a strong campaign to educate immigration rights groups about the plight of deported moms. Since 2018 Building Bridges has been a strong supporter of the Dreamers Moms and Deported Veterans.
On June 3rd tears came to my eyes as I listened to the joy in their voices. There are many more moms and veterans that need to be brought home and you can make this possible by electing individuals who will reform our immigration and military system. Yolanda will continue her work to help others and in the process keep Hope Alive
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