“I did it because I had to,” Ms. Paredes, 36, said of her decision years ago to leave her children behind in Guatemala. “From the first month, I was sending as much money as possible to my mother and children,” said Ms. Paredes, who shared about $600 a month. She bought a modest house a block away from her parents, hoping to live there one day with her family. In 2019, she managed to put together $15,000 to send for her oldest children, Kimberly, 15, and Yeison, 13. “I thought Melissa was still too young to make the trip,” Ms. Paredes said.

Source: New York Times May 09, 2021 06:56 UTC