[{"command":"settings","settings":{"pluralDelimiter":"\u0003","suppressDeprecationErrors":true,"ajaxPageState":{"libraries":"eJxLzSvJLKmMT81NSk3RT04sKMnMz9Mpy0wtL9YHk3qJWYkVKAK5-SmlOakAd1UWCw","theme":"hrw_design","theme_token":null},"ajaxTrustedUrl":[],"views":{"ajax_path":"\/views\/ajax","ajaxViews":{"views_dom_id:blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__310332__en":{"view_name":"blog_live_feed","view_display_id":"blog_body_block","view_args":"310332","view_path":"\/blog\/content\/310332","view_base_path":null,"view_dom_id":"blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__310332__en","pager_element":0}}},"csp":{"nonce":"_KNJvNZ3JWwTiEKqd7OZfg"},"user":{"uid":0,"permissionsHash":"bc8921424f39d39c64af84232b603fadae46f840a8176c1b2436a5ee00791ac5"}},"merge":true},{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_ttdgUoxkB-pbINT5dW1cMh3IgYOCVTjCJ6Cp-XWwa0k.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=hrw_design\u0026include=eJxLzi9K1U8pKi1IzNFLzEqs0EnNK8ksqYxPzU1KTdFPTiwoyczP0ynLTC0v1geTern5KaU5qQBrXRXg"}]},{"command":"add_js","selector":"body","data":[{"src":"\/sites\/default\/files\/js\/js_VAWKYxPX4vFoyXs0iEPUrnc99CjyNLIu_pZawjEz9i8.js?scope=footer\u0026delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=hrw_design\u0026include=eJwry0wtL9YvA5F6iVmJFQA22wZe"}]},{"command":"insert","method":"replaceWith","selector":".js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__310332__en","data":"\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__310332__en\u0022\u003E\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n \u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022blog-block__content__description rich-text pt-6 mb:pt-10 mx-auto\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EWithin 24 hours of being deported, \u201cGrace B.,\u201d a mother of two, was back at the Tamaulipas Institute for Migrants, offering hugs and words of comfort to another mother, fresh off the deportee bus. On June 22, the day Grace herself was deported, she had been trying so hard to hold back tears that she couldn\u2019t speak.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EShe said she had filed eight police reports when she lived in Houston, Texas, against \u201cEsteban,\u201d her abusive husband, but for years the police did nothing. The scars on her hand and head were testimony to 16 years of beatings. Even after she refused Esteban access to the apartment she shared with their two sons, she told Human Rights Watch, he broke the windows on six occasions to get to her.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EGrace and Esteban left Guerrero, Mexico, soon after marrying in 2001, and headed to Texas, where she said his jealousy became her prison. She was hardly allowed to leave the apartment, and she gradually realized that, although he left in the morning wearing a mechanic\u2019s uniform, he was dealing drugs. She lived in fear of his beatings, and in spite \u2013 or because \u2013 of that, kept giving him another chance, especially after \u201cBilly\u201d was born in 2002 and \u201cJim\u201d in 2006.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\n\n\n \n\n\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022embed align-right embedded-entity embedded-entity-type-media embedded-entity-bundle-image embedded-entity-viewmode-embeddable embed--right\u0022 xmlns:xlink=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\u0022\u003E\n \n\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \n \n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\u0022figure figure--expand text-center info \u0022\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022figure__media relative inline-block mx-auto\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/modal\/33638\u0022 rel=\u0022modal:open\u0022 class=\u0022figure__link\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cimg loading=\u0022lazy\u0022 srcset=\u0022\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/480w\/public\/multimedia_images_2017\/201710usp_thedeported_graceb.jpg?itok=TyWRs5uc 480w, \/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/embed_xxl\/public\/multimedia_images_2017\/201710usp_thedeported_graceb.jpg?itok=y7mvgzlX 946w\u0022 sizes=\u0022(max-width: 524px) 100px, 500px\u0022 width=\u0022946\u0022 height=\u00221261\u0022 data-responsive-image-style=\u0022embedded_images\u0022 src=\u0022\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/embed_xxl\/public\/multimedia_images_2017\/201710usp_thedeported_graceb.jpg?itok=y7mvgzlX\u0022 alt=\u0022201710usp_TheDeported_GraceB\u0022\u003E\n\n\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022figure__expand absolute block bottom-0 right-0 w-8 h-8 bg-white text-gray-700\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022sr-only\u0022\u003EClick to expand Image\u003C\/span\u003E\n \n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\u0022icon fill-current w-full inline-block\u0022\u003E\n \u003Csvg viewBox=\u00220 0 20 20\u0022 fill=\u0022currentColor\u0022 role=\u0022img\u0022 focusable=\u0022false\u0022 aria-hidden=\u0022true\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022\/themes\/custom\/hrw_design\/dist\/app-drupal\/assets\/spritemap.svg?cacheBuster=250315#sprite-expand\u0022 \/\u003E\n \u003C\/svg\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022figure__info text-left font-serif text-xs md:text-sm lg:text-base mx-auto text-gray-700 mt-1\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022figure__caption\u0022\u003E\u201cGrace B.\u201d speaks with Human Rights Watch researchers at the Instituto Tamaulipeco in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. \u00a9 2017 Human Rights Watch\n\n \n\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n \u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen Esteban went to prison, in 2008, Grace told us, she got a new life, learning to drive and finding work as a waitress at an Italian restaurant. But a little more than four years later, his sentence served, Esteban was deported to Mexico \u2013 and he soon crossed the border and returned to Houston. He had found God and changed, he told her, and was ready to make their marriage work. But within two weeks, the old patterns of drunken rages and beatings re-emerged \u2013 and now, he added threats to send a cartel against her family. Grace resumed her visits to the police \u2013 battered, bruised, and bloody \u2013 and to a Houston organization called AVDA \u2013 Aid to Victims of Domestic Violence \u2013 that also photographed her wounds.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EBilly developed twitches, and after his father\u2019s attacks on his mother, would experience paralysis. He was eventually diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, Grace said, related to the stress.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIt wasn\u2019t until December 10, 2016, that Esteban was arrested in response to Grace\u2019s complaints. Twelve days later, Grace was herself arrested. Driving home after a friend\u2019s birthday celebration at work, she was stopped, charged with driving while intoxicated, and held at the Harris County Jail. Immigration and Customs Enforcement took custody of her, and she spent Christmas in the private immigration detention center known as the CCA Houston Processing Center.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EHer case was complicated by an offense from 10 years earlier, when a neighbor who had argued with her husband called the police to complain about a barbecue at Grace\u2019s home. She said there was alcohol, but no one was drunk and the children were never in danger. But she ended up pleading guilty to a drinking-related felony charge of endangering the children. Her advisers at the time, she recalled, said, \u201cBetter to sign than go before a judge \u2013 nothing will happen.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThis time, Grace fought her deportation case for six months, filing an application, on the basis of Esteban\u2019s abuse, for a U Visa \u2013 intended to encourage immigrant victims of crimes to report them to the police, which Grace had done consistently for years. She was deported, she said, before that application could be reviewed.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EGrace intends to pursue her application for the U Visa from Mexico. She worries that Esteban will send a gang to harm her \u2013 or return to Mexico himself \u2013 and she cries every time she mentions Billy and Jim. But she is immensely grateful to her green card holding parents in Houston \u2013 \u201cthe best parents in the world,\u201d she calls them \u2013 for caring for the boys until her return. (Her parents were able to gain legal residence through a son, who gained status through marriage.)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cNormally, I\u2019m a happy person, very sociable,\u201d she says. \u201cBut now I feel a terrible depression \u2013 sadness \u2026 and desperation.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n\u003C\/div\u003E\n","settings":null},{"command":"insert","method":"prepend","selector":".js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__310332__en","data":"","settings":null}]