My name is Travis McLain and I am an American citizen.  In fact, on both sides, my ancestors were early settlers of what is now Maine and Massachusetts, long before this country was a figment of anyone's imagination.  Going back in our family tree, at least one member of our family has served in every major military campaign including and since the American Revolution.  Whether it be my 5th great-grandfather, Josiah Sawyer, who fought for our independence in the Revolutionary War, or my third great-grandfather, Captain Henry Brawn, who fought for the Union in the Civil War, or even my grandfather 1SGT William McElravy, who fought with the U.S. Marine Corps in Vietnam for nearly its entirety, every generation of this family has sacrificed for the greater good of the nation.

 

Where we draw the line, what we are not willing to sacrifice, is a member of our own family, for no good reason.  Not one of us would have ever thought, that the country for which we have sacrificed so much, would rob us of two of our own.  My brother-in-law Edan Ponce-Perdomo and my four year old nephew Edan David Ponce, of Dallas, Texas, are being forced to return to Honduras this month (August 2023).  If a voluntary departure is not granted, they will be banned from reentry for a decade.  Because of the distance, I may never be in the same room as these family members, ever again.

As I sit and contemplate the situation my family is currently facing, I can't help but wonder what our Founding Fathers would have thought.  They were much less removed from their immigrant roots, in fact eight of them were not even born in this country.  I truly believe that they would be profoundly ashamed that The United States of America, their beacon of freedom, liberty and justice, has become a place that criminalizes and demeans immigrant populations.  No person takes the decision to travel 2,500 miles on foot, with a 1 year old, lightly.  That is a decision made only out of necessity and a desperate desire to survive.  These are human beings, these are people that fled all that they knew and looked to our country for hope and the prospect of a brighter future; in return, we give them a jail cell and a ticket back to poverty and oppression.

 

 

I beg for my brother, who will be separated from the person he loves.
I beg for my brother-in-law, who will be ripped away from my brother and the life he has created for himself.
I beg for my nephew, who has been separated from his father for far too long and will now have to return to a country of which he has no memory, a place where his future will be much less bright.
I beg for all of us who will be heartbroken by the loss of two integral and irreplaceable members of our family.

Our entire family begs that Edan Ponce-Perdomo be paroled by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and granted a Voluntary Departure, so that he can continue to pursue legal immigration, obtain his visa and return to us next year.  If this is not granted the 10 year bar will be automatically effectuated. 

I am writing this because it is something that I care about deeply and it won't happen without the support of people like you.  I know I am not alone and that together we can make this change a reality.  Please sign and share!