A Soldier's Story

Update on Alejandra Juarez and her fight to be reunited with her family:

Members of the Biden-Harris campaign have filmed a segment on immigration featuring Alejandra’s daughter Estela Juarez, now 11, to be aired during the Democratic Convention on Wed., Aug. 19th.

The Juarez family – former U.S. Marine and Army veteran Temo, Pamela, Estela, and Alejandra – continue to wait for Congress to take up H.R. 581, which would allow Alejandra to return to her home and family in Florida, and H.R. 557, which would protect other spouses of military families from deportation. The pandemic has placed those bills, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Daren Soto, D-FL, in limbo. The Juarez family’s plight was featured in the Netflix documentary “Living Undocumented.”

Estela, who was living with her mom in Mexico, is back in the U.S. with her dad and sister. Her parents grew concerned after several strangers approached her after she appeared in the documentary, asking if she had made money from the film. For the record, no money exchanged hands. Documentary directors do not pay subjects to appear on camera. But the Juarez family decided Estela would be safer in the U.S.

Pamela, now a high school graduate, is struggling to retain hope that her family will ever be reunited. The pandemic has prevented her from traveling to Mexico to see her mom. It has also decimated Alejandra’s ability to earn money, as the tourism industry is at a standstill. There are few other possibilities for employment for her.

Temo continues to work hard, doing his best to support two households. Please go to graphicdefense.com to learn how you can help change this family’s picture for the better.

Watch the trailer to our comic about this story:

Click the comic tab on our website to read the full comic.

---

Graphic Defense is a new platform dedicated to defending people whose struggles are often overlooked. We present their cases through graphic comic arts. With your help, we can change their pictures.