When a mother returned to Maryland earlier this year after four months in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, her children, ages one and four, did not recognize her at first.
asserted
children → return → her
In her absence, they had lived with Vidal Rivas, an Episcopal priest who had agreed to be their temporary guardian if immigration authorities took her into custody.
asserted
authorities → live → custody
Rivas’ wife slept beside the children to soothe them while their mother was gone.
asserted
mother → sleep → them
When his wife became sick, Rivas took on more of the childcare.
asserted
Rivas → become → childcare
But Rivas, 62, stands ready to do the same for 29 other children whose immigrant parents have named him as their standby guardian.
asserted
parents → stand → guardian
Two more families are making similar arrangements with him, he says.
asserted
he → make → him
“I feel a lot of responsibility, and a very heavy weight,” says Rivas, who has served at St. Matthews Episcopal Church in suburban Washington for nearly two decades.
asserted
who → feel → decades
Inside the church hangs a sign bearing the same message in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole: “We love migrants.”
asserted
We → hang → migrants
For Rivas, the words have become a commitment to the families who fear an immigration arrest could suddenly separate them from their children.
uncertain
arrest → become → children
Rivas began encouraging families to name him as a standby guardian last year, shortly after President Donald Trump returned to office.
asserted
Trump → begin → office
Nearly all of the parents are Salvadoran, like him, and have been bracing for the Trump Administration to end Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for roughly 170,000 immigrants from that country.
asserted
Administration → brace → country
“It's not easy for parents to know that they could be arrested and their children could be left [in the U.S.] without them,” says Rivas.
uncertain
Rivas → know → them
How standby guardianship works
Under Maryland law, parents can designate a standby guardian in the event they are arrested by immigration authorities.
asserted
they → work → authorities
The designated guardian automatically becomes the child’s legal guardian for six months, with the possibility to extend if approved by a judge.
asserted
guardian → designate → judge
Rivas says some parents have talked to him about contingency plans in case they remain in a detention center for longer.
asserted
they → say → longer
Maryland was among the first states to revise its guardianship laws to help prevent the children of detained immigrants from entering foster care.
asserted
Maryland → revise → care
During Trump’s first term, state lawmakers passed a law allowing families to name a temporary guardian if detention or deportation separates their family.
asserted
detention → pass → family
In July, Massachusetts made a similar change in state law, joining Virginia, New York, California, Nevada, and Washington, D.C. to streamline such arrangements.
asserted
Massachusetts → make → arrangements
Salvadorans await TPS decision
asserted
Salvadorans → await → decision
After the mother of two young children was released, Rivas and his wife remained close to the family.
asserted
Rivas → release → family
“We now feel like the children's grandparents, because we still have a close relationship with her, looking after her and looking after the children,” he says.
asserted
he → feel → children
Caring for the two children made Rivas acutely aware of the scale of what he has agreed to.
asserted
he → care → what
If immigration enforcement ramps up in Hyattsville, a small city where more than a third of the population is Hispanic, he could be called upon to care for many children at once
Such fears have been further exacerbated by the uncertainty surrounding TPS, a program Congress created in 1990 to protect immigrants who cannot safely return to countries affected by armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions.
uncertain
who → ramp → conflict
El Salvador was the first country designated for TPS in 1990 due to its civil war, and that protection was renewed in 2001 after the country.
asserted
protection → designate → country
Since 1990, more than 170,000 Salvadorans have been granted TPS status, becoming one of the largest groups protected by the program.
asserted
Salvadorans → grant → program
In early September, hours before the TPS designation for Salvadorans was set to expire, the Department of Homeland Security released a notice that suggested it would remain in place for now.
uncertain
it → set → place
The short notice said Salvadorans under TPS would continue to “retain protection including work authorization,” but added that an announcement on the program’s future “will be made at the appropriate time.”
asserted
announcement → say → time
The statement offered little reassurance.
asserted
statement → offer → reassurance
Reports quickly emerged of Salvadorans in Hyattsville and elsewhere losing their jobs amid confusion over their immigration status.
asserted
Salvadorans → emerge → status
Even those still employed worry that the Trump Administration’s reprieve is only temporary.
asserted
reprieve → employ → ?
“Many people have left the church for other cities, and some have returned to their country,” Rivas says.
asserted
Rivas → leave → country
“People are in fear and become insecure.”
asserted
People → become → fear
Maryland is home to many Salvadorans who fled to the United States in the 1990s or the early 2000s.
asserted
who → flee → 1990s
Around that time, El Salvador was just rebuilding itself from a brutal civil war, before a powerful hurricane and a pair of earthquakes hit the Central American country.
asserted
hurricane → rebuild → country
For those who have been in the United States for more than 20 years, returning home may no longer feel like a viable option.
uncertain
returning → return → option
More than 27% of El Salvaror’s population lives below the national poverty line, according to the World Bank.
uncertain
% → live → Bank
It also has the highest imprisonment rate in the world, according to data from the World Prison Brief, a database compiled by the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research (ICPR) at Birkbeck, University of London.
uncertain
It → have → London
President Nayib Bukele has overseen an aggressive crackdown on gang violence as well as critics of his administration.
asserted
Bukele → oversee → administration
The strategy is credited with reducing the country’s crime rate, but rights groups accuse his government of arbitrary detention and abuses in prison.
asserted
groups → credit → prison
Last year, Trump sent hundreds of deported Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s CECOT, a maximum security jail designated for gang members.
asserted
Trump → send → members
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
