Germantown mom wants out of Philly after ICE deported her husband to Belize
Steeliness has replaced grief in Charlene Maddox Chimilio. The 43-year-old Philly native has come to terms with the fact that the best place for her family might be outside the city she loves so much.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Jesreel Chimilio, a father of two from Germantown who was seized outside his home by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and whisked away for deportation.
His wife, Charlene Maddox Chimilio, came running out after him with their 9-month-old son, Zechariah, on her hip, but it was too late.
Neither she nor their children — they’re also the parents of 3-year-old Jezreel — has seen him in person since that day in February. Charlene tried everything — reaching out to U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Philadelphia), doing media interviews, and seeking asylum on his behalf.
In April, Charlene learned Jesreel had been deported to his native Belize, which he left as a teenager to travel to the United States with his mother. He has been away from the Central American nation for so long that he’s essentially a stranger in a strange land.
I’ve been staying in touch with the family ever since Jesreel’s detention. During our early calls, she would sob uncontrollably.
Lately, her voice is more resigned. Steeliness has replaced grief.
The 43-year-old Philadelphia native has come to terms with the reality that doing what’s best for her family might mean she has to leave the city she loves to be with the man she loves, so she’s making plans to move to Belize.
An elementary school teacher, she has been searching for a job she can perform remotely. If all goes well during her visit to Belize next month, the mother of two may settle in the country commonly referred to as “the Jewel” because of its natural beauty.
It won’t be easy. After her husband was picked up, she went from having two incomes to one, and now none after her teaching job at the Russell Byers Charter School ended on June 13. (Previous donations from a GoFundMe that a friend set up went quickly to pay for bills.)
“It has been emotionally devastating for all of us — especially for our 3-year-old, who asks for his daddy every day,” she wrote on a GoFundMe she started last week to raise $3,000 for airfare to Belize and accommodations.
“Our youngest was just an infant when he left and has not been able to bond with his father in person,” she wrote. “As a mother, it breaks my heart to see the pain and confusion in their eyes.”
It’s a shame it has come to this. It’s one thing to stop security threats at America’s borders, but it’s a whole other thing to cruelly rip apart the families of hardworking and otherwise law-abiding immigrants who pay taxes and have lived in the United States for decades.
Yet, President Donald Trump, who is descended from immigrants and who married two foreign-born wives, cracked jokes last week while touring a new immigration detention center surrounded by alligator-filled swamps in the Florida Everglades. He said he would like to set up similar facilities elsewhere around the country.
Meanwhile, crowdfunding sites are full of heartbreaking pleas for help for the families of relatives picked up by ICE, or to support those already deported. The details vary wildly. But over and over, many say the same thing: They need support after having their lives cruelly upended by a country they once looked to as a beacon of hope.
As Charlene wrote on her own GoFundMe, “Every dollar donated will go directly toward reuniting our family — giving my children the chance to hold their father, to feel his love in person, and to begin rebuilding that vital connection.”
That matters more than anything, especially at a time when the Trump administration has turned its back on so many.