Mark, 17, struggled to make it through senior year after his father was deported to El Salvador. Getting his diploma was bittersweet for the Maryland teen, as his dad watched on a livestream.
As Mark was getting ready for his high school graduation, he thought about how his dad would have probably insisted on adjusting his slacks and fixing his tie. "He would want me to look my best," he said. But his dad and namesake, Marco, was 2,000 miles away. He had been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Maryland just before Christmas and deported to El Salvador in March.
When he walked up to the podium and got his diploma last week, he felt a sense of relief. His mother, Rosie, told him afterwards: "Congratulations – we finally made it through."
A Senior Year Derailed
Mark used to love school – he took advanced placement classes, had a girlfriend, and a tight-knit group of friends. But everything began to unravel after Marco was arrested and then deported. "For a lot of this semester, I just didn't want to go to school," he said. "Even after I came to terms with what happened to my dad, I never wanted to be there."
It didn't matter to the immigration system that Marco had lived in the US for nearly 40 years, that he owned a contracting business in Maryland, or that he had a 17-year-old son and 35-year-old daughter who are both US citizens. It didn't seem to matter that Marco's biggest dream had been to see his son graduate.
Mark is one of tens of thousands of US citizen children separated from their parents by the US immigration system. A Guardian investigation found that during the first seven months of Donald Trump's presidency, his administration arrested the parents of at least 27,000 children – including 12,000 US citizen children. During that period, the US Department of Homeland Security was deporting about twice as many parents each month compared with 2024.
A Bittersweet Ceremony
Marco watched a livestream of his son's ceremony from Aguascalientes, Mexico, where he now resides. His pride came with a shadow. "I was very happy. A little sad that I couldn't be present," he said.
Mark and his mother thought about ways to include his father in the ceremony. They had talked about ordering a lifesized cardboard cutout of Marco to bring to the graduation ceremony, but Mark couldn't figure out where to order something like that in time. Instead, Mark video-called him after the ceremony, alongside his mom, his older sister, and her mother, from an Italian restaurant in Baltimore. He missed the barbecue his dad would have cooked had he been there. "He would have made a really good carne asada!" Mark said.
The Arrest and Deportation
Marco and a friend had been shopping at a Home Depot for contracting supplies when ICE officers stopped them. Marco, who ran a construction business, had been avoiding Home Depot because he knew immigration agents were conducting raids there. But he couldn't find the part he needed elsewhere, so he decided to go.
Marco was first held at a federal building in Baltimore, then transferred to a detention center in Mississippi. "It was a nightmare," said Rosie. She and Mark scrambled to gather documents to fight Marco's deportation. He had been undocumented, but his lawyer thought he could qualify for residency via a humanitarian relief program for Central Americans who had come to the US before 1990. Mark's half-sister, estranged for years, rushed to help. But an immigration judge ordered Marco's removal. "The judge denied the case even though documentation was presented that Marco had been here for 37 years," Rosie said. Marco was sent back to El Salvador, a country he had left when he was three years old.
Struggling in Detention
Marco mostly doesn't like to talk about it. He wanted to stay in the US for his family, but it was also a relief to leave the detention center, where he had struggled to eat poor quality food and watched fellow detainees crying and screaming through the night. After three months, he had lost 30 pounds. "My dad had always wanted to lose some weight – but not like this," Mark said.
Depression and Financial Hardship
With his dad in detention, Mark grew stressed and depressed. He had trouble getting out of bed, concentrating at school, and began skipping classes. He dropped out of an advanced placement class, and his math grade dipped to an "E." Soon, Mark and Rosie realized they were eating through their savings. Marco had covered rent, utilities, and groceries; Rosie's job at Burger King paid for extras. Suddenly, they had to figure out everything on their own.
"Separation in that way breaks our hearts. We are suffering in every aspect," Rosie said. "I just never thought this would happen, that they'd tear us apart like this."
Mark stopped going out with friends. He worried ICE would arrest his mother, so he insisted on doing all the groceries and errands. His mom tried to be strong, but he could hear her crying in her room.
Marco sensed his son's depression. "I understood why," he said. But he prayed Mark would make it through senior year. "Every night I would read the Bible before going to bed. And I would say: 'My biggest wish is for Mark to graduate from high school.'"
A Father's Letter
Just before deportation, Marco wrote his son a letter. It began: "To my greatest son, Mark … How wonderful it was when we saw you for the first time when you were born." He told Mark to take care of his mother and girlfriend, to exercise, keep learning, and find a good job as an electrician. "You can do small jobs by yourself and the pay range is from 100 to 200 dollars in a few hours installing lights, switches, replacing plugs," the letter read. Mark chuckled as he read it back. "He just wants me to be OK."
Pulling Through
Mark wanted to be OK too. He asked his math teacher for extra work to bring his grades back up. He began taking shifts at Walmart to help pay bills. The Montgomery County Immigrant Rights Collective fundraised to help the family. He reconnected with his half-sister after nearly a decade. "She's having a baby soon, so I'll be an uncle!" he said. She promised to take care of him if anything happened to Rosie. "That was one good thing out of this," Mark said.
Marco struggled with post-traumatic stress and grief in El Salvador. He started working odd jobs immediately so as not to burden Rosie and Mark. "He even wants to support us financially from over there, but he just can't make that much," Mark said. Eventually, Marco made his way to Mexico to be with his parents and brother. He is exploring options to return to the US or Canada legally. "It will take me time," Marco said. For now, he wants to support Mark. "I am amazed because before the arrest, Mark was still a child. He's grown so much since then."
Looking Ahead
Mark will start community college soon, planning to become a civil or mechanical engineer. He convinced his dad that this could be more lucrative than being an electrician. He is trying to save up to visit his dad in Mexico in August. "I'm not sure if I'll make it because flights are expensive," he said. But if he does, he'll pack his cap and gown for a recreated graduation photoshoot with his dad. The Guardian is using first names only to protect the family's privacy and safety.
