Callous System Tearing Siblings Apart

From Yahoo Politics:

When Vladimir Gongora arrived in New York City three years ago, he didn’t know his own name.

Vladimir was born deaf in the small village of Cuyantepeque in the northwest corner of El Salvador. He wasn’t allowed to go to school and never learned to read or write.

“He used to cry and cry because he couldn’t ask for anything,” his mother, Dolores remembers. Then, when Vladimir was about 7 years old, he began gesturing to his little sister, Patricia, who was just 5. Bit they bit, they formed their own sign language, which became increasingly complex. Patricia translated her brother’s signs into Spanish for her parents, and all of a sudden, Vladimir was no longer so alone.

“I would invent a word if he couldn’t understand me,” says Patricia, now 18.

Their invented language lifted Vladimir out of his isolation, and the two became best friends — watching soap operas together and playing soccer and hide and seek.

They’ve been inseparable ever since. But a U.S. immigration court could soon force them apart.

Vladimir and Patricia both crossed the border on their own to join their parents in New York City — Vladimir in 2012, Patricia two years later. The two were part of a surge of unaccompanied minors from Central America who arrived at the southern border of the United States. Last year, Vladimir was granted asylum by the federal government because of the persecution he faced in El Salvador for his disability. (He was, among other things, denied access to schooling.) His sister also claimed asylum but was denied by the asylum office in April, despite her key role in helping her brother communicate. Now the government is pushing for her deportation, an action her attorney is appealing. Read more..

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