NEW YORK: Seven immigrant children who’d been separated from their families left a New York City social services center Friday holding their mothers’ hands and carrying balloons, backpacks and stuffed animals.
A woman from Guatemala held her 5-year-old son in her arms, more than two months after they were separated. He and his 15-year-old brother have been staying with a New York foster family.
“I want to thank everyone who made this possible, because for me it seemed impossible at one point,” said Rosayra Pablo-Cruz, speaking in Spanish. “When it’s in God’s plans, everything is possible.”
They left the Cayuga Center in East Harlem, which has a federal contract to place unaccompanied immigrant children in short-term foster care.
Yeni Gonzalez, another Guatemalan mother, was given custody of her three sons, ages 6, 9 and 11.
“I feel very happy,” she said.
She thanked elected officials, her attorney, and volunteers who paid her bond through crowdfunding and drove her from the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona to New York.
She had a message for mothers still in detention near the Mexican border: “Fight because with the help of all these people you will succeed, and the help of God.”
Julie Schwietert Collazo was one of the people. She organized the caravan that brought Gonzalez to New York after her volunteer group paid $7,500 bond so Gonzalez could be released from detention. They raised a total of nearly $200,000 and so far have bonded six women out of the Arizona facility, with three more expected to be released.
Asked whether she had anything to say to Republican President Donald Trump, Gonzalez shook her head, no.
On Friday, a Honduran mother also left Cayuga quietly with her two children — one carrying a big stuffed bear and smiling.
7 immigrant children reunited with their mothers in New York
7 immigrant children reunited with their mothers in New York
- Gonzalez was driven cross-country by volunteers after she was released from Eloy Detention Center in Arizona
- The children are 6-year-old Deyuin, 9-year-old Jamelin and 11-year-old Lester
Brazil’s Lula urges Trump to treat all countries equally
NEW DELHI: Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged Donald Trump on Sunday to treat all countries equally after the US leader imposed a 15 percent tariff on imports following an adverse Supreme Court ruling.
“I want to tell the US President Donald Trump that we don’t want a new Cold War. We don’t want interference in any other country, we want all countries to be treated equally,” Lula told reporters in New Delhi.
The conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled six to three on Friday that a 1977 law Trump has relied on to slap sudden levies on individual countries, upending global trade, “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
Lula said he would not like to react to the Supreme Court decisions of another country, but hoped that Brazil’s relations with the United States “will go back to normalcy” soon.
The veteran leftist leader is expected to travel to Washington next month for a meeting with Trump.
“I am convinced that Brazil-US relation will go back to normalcy after our conversation,” Lula, 80, said, adding that Brazil only wanted to “live in peace, generate jobs, and improve the lives of our people.”
Lula and Trump, 79, stand on polar opposite sides when it comes to issues such as multilateralism, international trade and the fight against climate change.
However, ties between Brazil and the United States appear to be on the mend after months of animosity between Washington and Brasilia.
As a result, Trump’s administration has exempted key Brazilian exports from 40 percent tariffs that had been imposed on the South American country last year.
‘Affinity’
“The world doesn’t need more turbulence, it needs peace,” said Lula, who arrived in India on Wednesday for a summit on artificial intelligence and a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ties between Washington and Brasilia soured in recent months, with Trump angered over the trial and conviction of his ally, the far-right former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump imposed sanctions against several top officials, including a Supreme Court judge, to punish Brazil for what he termed a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his role in a botched coup bid after his 2022 election loss to Lula.
Lula said that, as the two largest democracies in the Americas, he looked forward to a positive relationship with the United States.
“We are two men of 80 years of age, so we cannot play around with democracy,” he said.
“We have to take this very seriously. We have to shake hands eye-to-eye, person-to-person, and to discuss what is best for the US and Brazil.”
Lula also praised Modi after India and Brazil agreed to boost cooperation on critical minerals and rare earths and signed a raft of other deals on Saturday.
“I have a lot of affinity with Prime Minister Modi,” he said.
Lula will travel to South Korea later on Sunday for meetings with President Lee Jae Myung and to attend a business forum.
