The Doon School

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Public Demonstration to Reunite Diaz Family

Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006 4 p.m.
Downtown Portland, in front of the World Trade Center
Supporters of the Diaz family will come together Thursday in front of the offices of our elected officials to plead for their intervention in this family's desperate plight to be reunited. It will be 30 days since Irma, Luis Jr., and Monica were ripped apart from father Luis and daughter Jennifer and sent to the dangerous homeland they fled more than 10 years ago to escape political persecution and death threats. Jennifer, the 12-year-old American child left behind to live in the crumbled remains of her family, wants her mom and siblings back. Join us as we stand in unity and support with Jennifer tomorrow to tell our government to,
"Bring the Diaz family home!"
Without reform this American child may be forced to either spend the rest of her childhood without her mother, or be forced to live in Guatemala, with little to no chance of fulfilling our natural rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. We are American Citizens. We need to remember what that meant when this country was created from immigrants and their children, and stand firmly together on the foundation our nation was built on.
For more information about how to get involved, email: info@reunitejenny.com.
People are also encouraged to visit the Website for updates and news, www.reunitejenny.com.

Deportation, to a life unknown
Denied: The fight for asylum ends when a mother returns to a country that's strange to her two children
By Esmeralda Bermudez
ESCUINTLA, Guatemala -- Out of options for staying in the United States, three members of a Beaverton family returned to their Guatemalan hometown Wednesday evening. Irma Diaz and her two oldest children, 21-year-old Luis Jr. and 20-year-old Monica, left Portland at midnight Tuesday, the exact deadline set by federal immigration officials for them to be deported. The departure marked the end to the family's decadelong battle for political asylum. During a tearful goodbye at Portland International Airport, the Diazes left behind father Luis Sr., who is appealing his request for political asylum, and Jennifer, an 11-year-old daughter who is a U.S. citizen. "You have to be the man of the house, you hear?" Luis Sr. told his 21-year-old son as he hugged him goodbye. "People are going to mess with you, but you have to stay out of trouble." Luis Sr. and Jennifer plan to remain in Oregon until his appeal is decided. Guided by escorts during the 17-hour trip, the mother and children tried to disguise their concerns with good-natured jokes. But the laughter ended as the family entered Guatemala City on their way to their rural hometown of Escuintla. With a mix of nostalgia and fear, Irma Diaz returned to the country she left behind to join her husband in Oregon more than a decade earlier. In 1991, Luis Diaz Sr. left his family in Guatemala after receiving threats for organizing a union at a paper mill. Once in Hillsboro, he applied for political asylum and was granted a work permit. When his application had not been processed by 1993, Irma set out illegally to join her husband, with Luis Jr. and Monica. Upon arrival she filed separately for political asylum for herself and the two older children. In 1997, their request was denied, but they stayed waiting for federal authorities to rule on Luis Diaz Sr.'s claim. This year, his request was denied by an asylum officer who found no evidence of past persecution or a well-grounded fear of future persecution based on Diaz's union activities. His appeal is expected to take months, said Tilman Hasche, the family's attorney. On Wednesday afternoon, Irma and her two older children arrived in a world starkly different from Oregon. They were greeted by a land of colorful storefronts, where the smell of diesel fuel fouls the air and haphazard drivers flood the roads. The Diaz children, who arrived in Oregon when they were in elementary school, remembered little of the country. Luis Jr. was taken aback by the sights, saying he had seen nothing like it. When a car back-fired, Monica screamed in the back of a van crowded with her grandmothers and a grandfather. The 20-year-old who graduated with her brother from Westview High School gave special attention to the armed soldiers gathering on street corners and idling about Guatemala City, the capital. "They need to change some rules, make new laws, remodel everything," Monica said. "Oh, my God." Masking her own fear, her mother responded, "Don't get scared. This is just the beginning."