Home
international
news
An 11-year-old girl whose mother was deported to Mexico in 2018 has a message for Trump: 'We are American families'

An 11-year-old girl whose mother was deported to Mexico in 2018 has a message for Trump: 'We are American families'

Rhea Mahbubani

Estela Juarez, 11, gave an emotional speech during the third night of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday.
Reading aloud a letter addressed to President Donald Trump, Estela talked about the widely publicized case of her mother, Alejandra Juarez, who was deported to Mexico in 2018, and was also featured in the Netflix documentary series, "Living Undocumented," which was produced by Selena Gomez.
"My mom is my best friend. She came to America as a teenager over 20 years ago, without papers, in search of a better life," Estela said, adding that her mother "worked hard and paid taxes, and the Obama administration told her she could stay."
Alejandra married Cuauhtemoc "Temo" Juarez — who Estela said "served our country as a marine in South America, Africa, and Iraq" — and they began a life in Florida. She came to ICE's attention by way of a traffic stop in 2013, BuzzFeed News reported.
Estela told Trump that her father voted for him in 2016, believing that he would protect military families once he was in the White House. He won't be doing so again this year, she said.
After footage of Trump saying immigrants aren't people and that he doesn't want them in the US, Estela concluded, "Mr. President, my mom is the wife of a proud American marine, and a mother of two American children. We are American families. We need a president who will bring people together, not tear them apart."