Family Shattered After Husband is Detained in Immigration Sweep
The story was co-published with Telemundo Bay Area as part of the 2025 Ethnic Media Collaborative, Healing California.
Maria Barrera's husband has been in a detention center for over a year, facing deportation proceedings. Photo Credit: Telemundo 48 Bay Area
It's another day of Struggle for San Jose resident Maria Barrera.
“For all of us who don’t have papers, it’s a fear, a constant worry about going out and not returning to our families. That’s what happened to my husband. He left the house and never came back to see his family. He said goodbye in the morning with a kiss and a hug for our daughter, and by the afternoon and evening, he was gone.”
Maria's husband has been in a detention center for a year now. Photo credit: NBC/Telemundo 48 Bay Area
Her husband is in a detention center facing deportation proceedings.
In the year, his health has worsened,
“His diabetes has gotten worse. Last night he called me and said his blood sugar was almost at 300. He told me, ‘If something happens to me, I’m saying goodbye now. Don’t cry for me.’ It’s… I’m sorry, it’s very distressing for me. I have to raise my daughter, my husband is detained, there’s rent, there’s no work… it’s just incredibly, incredibly difficult for me.”
Maria's daughter who chose not to speak on camera just turned 15. She didn't ask for a party or a trip.
Maria's daughter's 15th birthday wish was to see her father. Photo credit NBC/Telemundo 48 Bay Area
Her QUINCEAÑERA wish was to visit her father—but the distance and lack of resources left that wish unfulfilled.
Maria says that she has her daughter in therapy because she struggles to move past the fact that her dad is detained.
This project was supported by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, and is part of “Healing California”, a yearlong reporting Ethnic Media Collaborative venture with print, online and broadcast outlets across California.
