POST
PRODUCTION
SCRIPT
Foreign
Correspondent
2021
Road
to Reunion
32
mins 42 secs
©2021
ABC
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Phone:
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Precis
|
In a world TV
exclusive, Sarah Ferguson reports on the fallout of a brutal US immigration
policy that tore families apart. She tracks the journey of one mother seeking
to reunite with her children after four painful years alone. "I begged
them to please not take my mum. I told them that it would be better if they
deported us to Mexico instead of separating her from me, but they told
me...that I had to say goodbye." It was condemned
as cruel and inhumane. But before the US courts struck it down, Trump's
policy of separating children from their parents at the US-Mexico border did
its work. Over 5000 children were removed. While many children stayed in the
US, hundreds of parents were deported. Four years
later, some families are finding each other again. In a Foreign
Correspondent exclusive, Sarah Ferguson tells the powerful story of the first
family to reunite since President Biden took office. The family of Honduran
mother Keldy Gonzales Brebe was one of the first to be caught up in a
secretive US immigration program run in 2017. Its aim was to deter would-be
migrants by separating parents from children. When Keldy
crossed the US border into New Mexico in 2017, immigration officials
separated her from her two sons, aged 13 and 15. "They told us they were going to separate us from her, that
they were going to take us to a juvenile detention centre. I begged the
immigration officers to let us go with her, but they said...I had to be
separated from her," says
Keldy's son Mino, now 19. "From there
I lost so many things from not seeing my children. I lost seeing their
adolescence. I couldn't be with them for four years," Keldy tells Foreign Correspondent. For four years,
Keldy marked time in Mexico. Then, with the help of the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), she received the news she'd
been waiting for. We follow Keldy
from Mexico to Philadelphia, where her children now live, for the
unforgettable scenes of mother and child reunion. We follow her
story to Honduras to understand why she fled her home country, meet her
family and friends on the Caribbean Coast and see first-hand the brutal
violence that drove her to leave. After organising
the execution of her brother, the notorious Honduran gang MS-13 threatened to
kill Keldy too. We speak to
lawyer Lee Gelernt from the ACLU who fought Trump's immigration policy in the
courts and is now helping to bring families back together. "I wanted
to be here to see this first reunification," says Gelernt. "I think you can't really understand
until you see it." |
|
Keldy
at Philadelphia airport |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: A tearful mother arrives at
Philadelphia airport. Keldy Gonzales Brebe hasn’t
seen her children for nearly four years. They were taken from her at the US
border in 2017, victims of Donald Trump’s family separation policy. |
00:00 |
Keldy
in car |
KELDY: "I’ve always told you. I had faith
that I was going to be here with my children." DRIVER: "Yes, you've always said that." |
00:25 |
Keldy
into home greets family, hugging sons, crying |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Now a new US government is
trying to put more than a thousand separated families back together. Keldy is
one of the first parents they’ve brought back to
America. KELDY: "I
want to say to my children that I love you!" |
00:37 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: This is the rarest thing in my
experience as a journalist, a truly happy ending. KELDY: "I
love you my beautiful boy. I love you. I’m here my darling." |
01:28 |
Sarah
hugs Keldy |
SARAH: "I’m so happy for you. Congratulations. You are
home." |
01:42 |
Family
reunion |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter:
I’m beginning Keldy’s story at the end, so
that you know their ordeal is over |
01:51 |
Lee
watches reunification |
LEE GELERNT: I wanted to be here to see this first
reunification. I don’t know how many I'll be able to
get to of the thousand we’re trying to get back. You know, I've
been doing this work for 30 years at the ACLU. This is, by far, the worst
immigration practise I have ever seen and by a long shot. |
02:01 |
Border
wall |
|
02:26 |
Title:
ROAD TO REUNION |
|
02:36 |
Map, Mexico showing Ciudad Juarez |
|
02:41 |
Ciudad
Juarez GVs |
Music |
02:48 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: The border city of Ciudad
Juarez is an unlikely place to seek refuge from violence. Whole
neighbourhoods lie abandoned after residents fled during the savage cartel
wars of the past 15 years. In late April, we found Keldy living here in a
single room. |
02:59 |
Keldy
sitting on bed, talking with sons |
Her bible open, her luggage ready, waiting, living
through her phone. KELDY: "How are you
my precious boys?" SON: "Good, and
you?" KELDY: "Good, good." |
03:40 |
|
KELDY: I've been crying at night for a long time in pain and
nearly screaming to hug my children. |
03:56 |
Keldy
in car with Anna, to dentist |
Four years are four years. It’s
been four years of praying to be able to see my children again. |
04:08 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Her
friend Anna is driving Keldy to the dentist. Given
hope by the change of government in the US she’s
preparing for the possibility of reunion. She made this appointment to have her
teeth cleaned. |
04:26 |
|
KELDY: I left my country in
search of protection, and when we say protection it’s
like when a person is sick and looks for medicine, but instead of finding
medicine, finds more pain. |
04:46 |
Keldy
in kitchen |
More pain, that’s what I felt.
When they tore me away from my children I felt like
they killed me. SARAH
FERGUSON, Reporter: During these
years, Keldy had a powerful ally in the US. |
05:08 |
ACLU
rally |
CHANT: "A-C-L-U… We are here because of
you." SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: …the American Civil
Liberties Union. |
05:20 |
|
LEE: "The judge, in a nutshell…" SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: And
its immigration lawyer, Lee Gelernt. LEE:
"…President could not override the courts." |
05:33 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: He led the legal
challenges against the Trump family separation policy which swept up Keldy
and her children. |
05:41 |
Lee
in car |
LEE GELERNT: She is one of the first cases that were
documented, and we now
know that more than 5500 children were separated, |
05:48 |
Lee
100% |
hundreds of whom were just
babies and toddlers. We also now know that the Trump administration had asked
about budgeting for possibly 26,000 children to be separated. |
05:58 |
Border
wall |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Migration over the Mexican
border was Donald Trump’s most potent issue. |
06:09 |
|
TRUMP: "Ice is throwing them out of our
country by the thousands. |
06:19 |
Trump
at NRA convention |
"I
am afraid for my life. I am afraid to go back to my country. I want to be an
American." We don’t want them in our country.
And they’re not getting into our country. And
when they have got in to our country we’re throwing
them the hell out. They're out. |
06:23 |
Border
wall |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter:
We now know, that from his first days in office, Trump had advisors
working on a secret plan to separate families at the border. LEE GELERNT: You know we're
still trying to figure out how early the Trump administration |
06:42 |
Lee
100% |
was planning
to take children away. We know that by six months they had already had a
pilot program up and running. We're still trying to
find out whether right away when he took office, he was taking children away,
which means that they planned it even before he came into office. |
06:55 |
Keldy
broadcasts sermon online from her room |
KELDY:
"Glory to
god, hallelujah, glory to god. God bless your lives, god
bless your lives, in the name of Jesus. SARAH
FERGUSON, Reporter: Before she fled
Honduras, Keldy was a preacher, a shepherdess, in her evangelical church.
From her room in Ciudad Juarez she made regular
online sermons to her flock. |
07:20 |
|
KELDY: "I'm
going to tell you what God has promised me. I'm not going to get tired or
give up…" SARAH
FERGUSON, Reporter: She was
convinced her god would intervene to save her. KELDY: Through the Big Door. |
07:44 |
|
That's
what I believed. I was going to go through the Big Door, through the North
Path. |
07:56 |
Keldy
stands at border point |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: In 2017, Keldy and her family
fled on that path north, leaving behind memories of another life. |
08:10 |
Map,
Route, Honduras to US border |
They travelled from Honduras, through Guatemala, to
southern Mexico. Then north to the border town of Puerto Palomas. |
08:21 |
Montage
photos. Asylum seekers at US border |
On September the 20th, with a paid guide,
known as a coyote, Keldy and two of her sons crossed the border into New
Mexico and surrendered to a border patrol. Keldy pled for asylum, but the US
immigration officials were under orders from a very
different higher power – President Donald Trump. |
08:30 |
Keldy
100% |
KELDY: They told us, you’re going to go to Luna County prison for five
days. And your sons will go to a shelter, and after that you’ll
be reunited. It was a lie. A lie they told everybody, to all the fathers and
mothers. |
09:09 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: What was your last
memory of the boys, that last view of them? What did you see? KELDY:
The last time I saw them was when they separated us, and that scene is
very sad because from there I lost so much from not
seeing my children. I've missed seeing their
adolescence. I couldn’t be with them for four years. SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Keldy was with her two youngest sons, |
09:24 |
Photo.
Mino and Erick |
15 year old Mino
and his 13 year old brother Erick. SARAH
FERGUSON, Reporter: Go back to the separation if you would. |
10:13 |
Keldy
100% |
KELDY: They
started to grab me by the waist, crying, shouting, "No mama! No mama!" and
there was nothing I could do. When my children heard they were separating us,
one of them, Mino, shouted "We shouldn’t have left Honduras. At least
there we would be together, even if we got killed or hurt. If we had known
they were going to be so cruel taking away my mother." |
10:21 |
Kensington
GVs |
|
11:16 |
Sarah
visits Keldy's mother and daughter |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: In the tough Philadelphia
neighbourhood of Kensington we found the house where
Keldy’s mother had been looking after her sons. |
11:32 |
|
Amanda
is also caring for 6-year-old Dana, Keldy’s adopted intellectually disabled
daughter. The old woman brought Dana
across the border in 2017. |
11:43 |
Amanda
100% |
AMANDA: Only god knows how I'm waiting for my
daughter. Who knows what we’ll
do when that day comes. It’s
like living in a huge maze. We’ve all become so
separated. The husband is somewhere over there, we are here, she is there. |
12:11 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: In
all the family’s suffering, Amanda is most worried about Mino. |
12:41 |
|
AMANDA: He sank into depression, he suffers a lot. All of us are suffering, but
he is suffering more because he gets depressed, he cries and sometimes he doesn’t want to eat. |
12:48 |
Mino
tiling with Alex |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Mino was a boy when he last saw
his mother; now he’s a young man and works with his
brother, Alex. |
13:10 |
|
MINO: I don't have
friends here, not many, and I don't have my mother either, so I'm only left
with work. SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: His memory of the
separation is vivid. |
13:21 |
Mino
100% |
MINO: They told us they were going to separate us from
her. What could I do? I begged the immigration officers to release her with me but they said there was no alternative, they had to
take her, that I had to be separated from her. I told them they should deport
us to Mexico instead, not to separate me from my mum. They said they couldn’t do that and that I had to say goodbye to her. |
13:37 |
|
They took us to the
detention centre, what they called the icebox, but for kids. A man laughed at
us and told my brother to stop crying because
I did not want the man to see our pain. The worst thing was the cold, we didn’t have any blankets, they only gave us a mattress, we
didn’t have anything to cover ourselves with. |
14:20 |
Alex
tiling bathroom |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter:
Keldy’s eldest son Alex
crossed the border alone and made his way to Philadelphia to be with his
brothers. ALEX: They
were sad all the time because they weren’t with
their mother. So I had to come. |
15:00 |
Alex
100% |
I
had to come here to be with them, to take care of them and to counsel them as
a big brother. |
15:18 |
Erick
100% |
ERICK: First we lived with an
aunt, then when my brother got here, we lived with him and my grandmother. SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Erick was only 13 when his
mother was taken away. |
15:32 |
|
ERICK: We thought they'd just quickly release her, but the next
day they changed their minds and said they were taking our mother to an
immigration prison for adults, and they were going to put us in a shelter. |
15:42 |
Amanda
100% |
AMANDA: They've
separated me from my daughter, it was torture for me without them. It was
hugely painful. We did all of this because I've
lived through the death of four of my children, we came here because they
wanted to kill her, to kill all of us, so we fled, moving from one place to
another. |
16:01 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter:
In Honduras, Keldy’s
family was plagued by violence. In six years, four of her brothers and a
sister-in-law were murdered. Then she and her immediate family were targeted. |
16:34 |
Keldy
in room |
KELDY:
When they told us that they were going to burn us alive, they were
going to burn down our house and that they were going to burn it down with my
sons and everything, we left with only with the clothes we had on because
what they were going to do was so terrible. |
16:54 |
Map,
Honduras showing San Pedro Sula |
Music |
17:12 |
Sarah
in car driving to San Pedro Sula |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: To learn more about Keldy's story we've to come the
place she fled – Honduras. Each morning in San Pedro Sula, as regular
as sunrise, they find the bodies. |
17:20 |
Police
at murder scenes |
Warring gangs control many of
the city’s neighbourhoods. This hill is an MS-13 stronghold. A rival gangster
was decapitated during the night. Local kids are unfazed. |
17:41 |
|
The morning’s second murder site is at Rio Blanquito –
the little white river – another MS-13 neighbourhood. This 21
year old made the fatal mistake of straying into their territory. He came to see his
girlfriend last night and they shot him five times. His brother limps up the path to identify him. |
18:02 |
Sarah
to camera |
The absolute degradation caused by gang warfare in this
area is obvious to see. Another young man dead on the ground after a violent
night. It’s also obvious why people here would seek
to flee from this trauma and seek refuge elsewhere. |
18:43 |
Sarah
with victim's brother |
"I’m very sorry about what happened to your brother,
first." SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: The victim’s brother is too
afraid to show his face. VICTIM'S BROTHER: He’s my blood you know, he is my brother. He was the
youngest and the one I loved the most. |
19:00 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON,
Reporter: Did they kill him because he was another gang? VICTIM'S BROTHER: No, my brother never involved with the gangs, he was never caught up in
that. |
19:12 |
Honduras
town GVs |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: In such a violent country the
death of a brother is commonplace. The threats to kill Keldy began after she
testified against the three men who murdered Oscar, the fourth of her
brothers to be killed. |
19:25 |
Keldy
100% |
"Did
you ever think it would be better to go back to Honduras? KELDY:
No, we were scared of going back to Honduras. In
Honduras we don't have a life anymore. SARAH
FERGUSON, Reporter: What is it that makes that impossible? |
19:46 |
|
KELDY: The persecution
against me, because I was, and still am, a protected witness, because I had
to bring down a gang of hitman who murdered a member of my family. In
Honduras, no one does a thing because of fear. They let their family members
get killed and they do nothing. I had to denounce them, to the point they
were charged, and three of them are in custody. |
20:04 |
Police
station interior, arrest of hitmen |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter:
In this most violent of Honduran cities, police today have arrested
two MS-13 hitmen. Testifying against the gangs, like Keldy did, is extremely
risky. |
20:57 |
|
NOLESECO: They take
advantage of people's fear, the more fear people have "I'll steal from
you, assault you, but if you denounce us to the police
I'll come for you or your relatives." |
21:15 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: The national police agreed to
help us find details of her brother’s murder. |
21:25 |
Sarah
with police officers looking at records on computer |
"Yeah, yeah, that was it.
That was Oscar. Yeah, that’s him." SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Three men were convicted for
killing Oscar, and sentenced to 17 years jail. That year, 2012, was an
astonishingly murderous one in Honduras. |
21:31 |
|
There were 7,176 homicides as the gangs consolidated
their control of territory. Another
document confirms that prosecutors made Keldy a protected witness when
threats to kill her escalated after the men were convicted. |
21:52 |
Driving to La Ceiba. Map Honduras, showing La Ceiba/ La
Ceiba GVs |
We head north, far from the big cities,
to Keldy's hometown. Before they were forced to abandon it, their family home
was close to the Caribbean coast and the resort town of La Ceiba. It’s a lucrative market for tourism and gangsters. |
22:12 |
|
The barrios on the outskirts of La Ceiba are not for
tourists. "Is it safe?" PASTOR ISAIAS: It’s dangerous. |
22:39 |
Sarah
walks with Pastor Isaias in barrio |
In this area it’s very dangerous. Fighting for territory, you know. For
drugs. Last month kill in this area one boy 11
o'clock in morning. Kill. SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Why? PASTOR ISAIAS: Fighting for territory. |
22:47 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: This neighbourhood is very close to where Keldy's brother Oscar was murdered. PASTOR ISAIAS: Brother to Sister Keldy, |
23:06 |
Pastor
Isaias interview in home |
killed in this area, and then Sister Keldy was
persecuted. Bad situation. SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Pastor Isaias was Keldy's
spiritual mentor. |
23:13 |
|
PASTOR ISAIAS: Sister Keldy, she is a good pastor. She
has passion for preaching. She has the passion to win souls for the Kingdom
of God. |
23:23 |
Evangelical
Moravian Church service |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: On Sunday morning the souls
arrive at Pastor Isaias’s Evangelical Moravian Church, ready to be saved. |
23:39 |
|
PASTOR ISAIAS: "You are in God’s perfect plans. This is why waves
and winds arose to destroy your life, but still here you are, in this
morning, sitting down, present in the House of God, because God has a purpose
for your life. In his name…" |
23:51 |
|
CONGREGATION: "Glory!" |
24:11 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: It’s
here that Keldy converted to Christianity after her brother’s murder. |
24:14 |
|
She found God, she says, and lost her fear. There’s something
hypnotic and wild in this Caribbean-inspired evangelism. It seems like a
momentary escape from the danger and poverty outside. |
24:25 |
|
PASTOR ISAIAS: "I see an illness leaving her, the illness is
leaving Jehovah, today it is dissipating, it is disappearing, any illness is
leaving Jehovah, Jesus from Nazareth, today it is going away." |
24:43 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter:
This was Keldy's world before her enemies came searching for her. |
24:57 |
Pastor
Isaias interview in home |
PASTOR ISAIAS: Some
people are looking, "Where is she?" But we don’t
say nothing. We're very quiet, you know. SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Who came? PASTOR ISAIAS: Bad
people, you know, bad people. Gangs, you know. |
25:05 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Looking for Keldy? PASTOR ISAIAS: Yes,
but we don’t say nothing. |
25:24 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Isaias says that after Keldy
testified at the murder trial it was too dangerous for her to stay here. |
25:28 |
|
PASTOR ISAIAS: Very dangerous. You know, in Honduras, in La Ceiba,
all of Honduras, a lot of people are killed. Many people come out from jail but they want revenge. Oh, you put me in jail or your
family or your brother or sister put me in jail. Now I want to revenge. |
25:38 |
Driving
to Barrio Israel |
|
26:01 |
|
SARAH
FERGUSON, Reporter: "How far is it now?" A
short drive from the church is the Barrio Israel colony where Keldy's brother
Oscar lived. |
26:08 |
Sarah
to camera in car |
This place was dangerous in 2012 and it's
still very dangerous now. It's completely under the
control of the MS-13 gang who work with drug traffickers. It’s
so dangerous that we can’t get out of the car, and we were told that we need
to pull down our windows, so that people can see us and know we are we are
not from another gang. One road in and out; no comes here without the gang
knowing. |
26:21 |
Sarah
in car |
PAOLO: This is
exactly the place where the crime happened, in this street, in the middle of
these houses. |
26:49 |
Sarah
meets Danilo |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Keldy has one brother still
living in Honduras. Danilo insisted we meet him at a remote location far from
La Ceiba. |
27:00 |
|
Ever since the murder of his brother Oscar, he says a
threat has hung over every member of the family. Danilo only trusts those he
calls his black brothers, the local Garifuna people. The Caribbean coast of
Honduras is a trans-shipment point for cocaine from Colombia. That’s why the gangs are so strong and so ruthless. Danilo
takes us far from where anyone will recognise him. |
27:13 |
Interview
with Danilo on beach |
DANILO: Because I'm Oscar's
brother, I'm Keldy's brother, my face and Keldy's face are similar. One guy
he say I can see the face and I can put three
bullets in the head. "If I see that face I'm
put three bullets in your brain." |
27:48 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Danilo works as a tourist
guide. It’s only here he feels safe, prepared to
talk about his brother’s murder. |
28:11 |
|
DANILO: Some
people killed my brother like a dog. They killed my brother for nothing, just
to take control of his property. Four guys killed my brother, smashed to the
head with a rock. SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Smashed his head with a rock? DANILO: With a
rock, yes. |
28:29 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: What kind of people killed him? DANILO: MS-13.
Somebody pay for those people. SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: So
these are hired, paid to kill him. DANILO: To kill
him. Paid to kill him. |
28:56 |
|
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: He says Keldy will never be
forgiven for making sure the killers were punished. |
29:12 |
|
DANILO: Keldy
giving information to the police and that one guy goes straight for 20 years
to prison. His family be angry to Keldy and my family. Keldy come to La
Ceiba, 100% somebody kill my her. |
29:17 |
Border
wall |
|
29:32 |
Keldy
walks to border gate |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: Much of what we’ve
learnt about Keldy's fear for her life was available to the US immigration
judge who ordered her deported back to Honduras. That judge is known to
reject 90 percent of asylum cases. Every afternoon of her long exile in
Ciudad Juarez Keldy takes a walk to the border gate to ask for divine
intervention to allow her to pass through to America. |
29:38 |
|
On April the 26th, Keldy heard the ping of a phone
message through her shouted prayers. Voice message: "What the
government lawyers are saying is they want a week’s warning before you
present yourself, so what we are saying is you are going to present yourself
on Tuesday. I’ll meet you on the Mexican side and walk you across." KELDY: Thank you, thank you, thank you. |
30:30 |
|
I
finally get to see my children. |
31:26 |
Driving,
sunset |
Music |
31:35 |
Family
reunion |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: This
family’s reunion marked the end of a dark experiment that challenged
America's idea of itself. |
31:49 |
Lee |
LEE GELERNT: To the extent there was any silver lining,
it was that the American public said wait, enough is enough. It transcended
ideological lines in a way that I have never seen. |
32:06 |
Family
reunion |
SARAH FERGUSON, Reporter: But for the rarest moment, what
mattered most was a mother’s love and the simple humanity of ordinary people. |
32:16 |
Credits
[see below] |
Music |
32:27 |
Out
point |
|
32:42 |
CREDITS:
Reporter
Sarah Ferguson
Producer
Tony Jones
Camera
Bruno Federico
Editor
Nikki Stevens
Research
Anne Worthington
Field
Producer Mexico
Bruno Federico
Honduras
Fixer
Paolo Cerrato
Additional
Camera
Cameron Schwarz
Assistant
Editor
Tom Carr
Archival
Research
Michelle Boukheris
Translations
Marti Amor
Brietta Hague
Senior
Production Manager
Michelle Roberts
Production
Co-Ordinator
Victoria Allen
Chloe Ross
Digital
Producer
Matt Henry
Supervising
Producer
Lisa McGregor
Executive
Producer
Matthew Carney
Foreign
Correspondent
abc.net.au/foreign
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2021 Australian Broadcasting Corporation