From one day to the next, Father Vidal Rivas could find himself in charge of a 12-month-old baby or a 17-year-old teenager, whom he would have to take into his home, Feeding, clothing, and guiding them until they finish high school.

He might also have to handle the paperwork so that several children can fly to their parents' country of origin and accompany them until they are reunited.

This charismatic priest, who leads the Episcopal parish of St. Matthew in Hyattsville, Maryland, has committed to assuming temporary guardianship of 26 minors should their parents be deported.

“It's a huge responsibility, one that would completely change my family's life,” he told BBC Mundo. “Both my wife and I are aware of it; we know what it details.”

Since the beginning of Donald Trump's second term, who assumed the presidency in January with the promise of carrying out “the largest deportation in the country's history,” many undocumented migrants have rushed to get everything in order in case they are detained and deported.

And they have sought out trusted figures in their closest circles, like Father Rivas, to take care of their children when they are not there.

It is part of what organizations and legal specialists call a “family preparedness plan,” something that more and more households with mixed immigration status—with at least one undocumented member—are doing.

“It involves having uncomfortable conversations and making painful decisions, but being prepared makes things easier when dealing with an emergency and its consequences,” Kristina Lovato, director of the Center for Immigration and Child Welfare (CICW), told BBC Mundo. the University of California, Berkeley.

“My daughter will not be left in limbo”

Today there are more than six million households in mixed immigration status in the US, about 5% of the total, according to figures from the Pew Research Center. And according to data from the CICW, at least one parent of 5.9 million children is undocumented.To that must be added the more than 500,000 whose parents are protected by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama-era program that experts say is now being undermined, and by Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which the current administration seeks to revoke for citizens of several countries. From the beginning of the year until September, more than 400,000 people had been deported, according to the most recent figures released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). And as of November 16—the latest official data? Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was holding 65,135 people in detention centers across the country, the highest number reported by the agency since its creation in 2003. Of those arrested, 48% had no criminal charges or convictions in the US and were being held for civil violations of US immigration laws. The current situation is impacting the morale of the parishioners at St. Matthew's Church, says its pastor. The municipality to which it belongs, Hyattsville, a suburb of Washington, DC, where more than 40% of its nearly 21,000 residents are Latino and a third were born in another country, has not been spared from the arrests. "People are too afraid, although to say that is an understatement. It's more like terror of going out and even being in the church," the priest emphasizes. Rivas, originally from El Salvador, arrived in the US in 1998.

“I am an immigrant myself, and although I came with a green card thanks to the priests who brought me to work in this country, I have seen the pain of my people (during the Salvadoran civil war, 1980-1992) and now I see it here; I see people suffering every day,” he says.

In response, the priest and members of his parish decided to take action to make the faithful and the community in general feel safer.

Now religious services are held behind closed doors, and several volunteers guard the entrance and patrol the surrounding area.

They also began encouraging parishioners to prepare for any immigration eventuality and seek temporary guardians for their children, something provided for under state law.

“In doing so, we discovered that many families do not have members with permanent residency (or a green card) or citizenship "It's very sad to see that they can't find anyone, they become very desperate," Rivas laments.

“That's where we had to teach them how to find trustworthy people who could serve as mentors,” she explains.

Like so many others, Mimi, a 40-year-old undocumented woman and single mother of a 16-year-old, found that person in Rivas himself.

“I spent many days and nights thinking about it. And although it was a very difficult decision, I know it's the best one,” she tells BBC Mundo.

She says she feels relieved to know that, if she were deported,her daughter wouldn't be left “in limbo.”

“The thought of a social worker coming and taking her away, leaving her in the hands of the government and putting her up for adoption” would be her worst nightmare, explains the woman, whose real name and nationality we are omitting to protect her identity. What Mimi agreed with Father Rivas is that he would take care of everything necessary for the girl, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, to be reunited with her in her country of origin. “I would like my daughter to continue studying, to finish her studies, but because of the situation we have never been separated and I don't think she wants to be without me.” That is the request Rivas received from some of the parents of the other 25 children for whom he acted as a temporary guardian. Others asked that their children remain in the US at least until they finish high school.

Up to six months and revocable

To make this possible and legally permissible, they all filled out and signed a parental designation form to initiate reserve guardianship.

“It's an expansion of a legal mechanism that has existed in Maryland since the AIDS epidemic in the 1970s,” Cam Crockett, a family law attorney who has practiced in the state for 40 years and was one of the driving forces behind the current emergency guardianship law, explained to BBC Mundo.

Since the state legislature unanimously approved it in May 2018, in addition to cases of mental incapacity or physical debilitation, it allows an adult to designate a reserve guardian for their children in case they are detained by immigration authorities or deported.

“It is activated once the emergency occurs and lasts “Six months, although the parents can revoke it at any time. “time,” Crockett explains. The parents, who do not lose parental rights, specify on the form what the guardian can do on their behalf: from enrolling the children in school or admitting them to a hospital, to booking flights and hotels for them, receiving funds, or making financial decisions. “What we suggest is that they think very carefully before choosing a potential guardian, as this person may have to appear in court or travel to another country,” the lawyer explains. And if they wanted the arrangement to extend beyond 180 days,They would have to seek a more permanent guardianship or consider third-party custody, for which the expert recommends consulting with lawyers about the specific case.

State-to-State Changes

However, reserve guardianship does not exist as such in all US state laws.

“That's why it's very important that those interested receive good legal advice from the state in which they live, because the laws change from state to state,” emphasizes Sharon Balmer Cartagena, the lawyer who directs the Child, Youth,and Family Advocacy Project at the organization Public Counsel.

“Because there are many groups, also online, where people give advice on this topic, but very good advice in Texas could be very bad advice in California.”

For example, in California, where Balmer Cartagena practices, temporary guardianship does not exist.

There, guardianship grants the appointee full legal and physical custody of the child and, to regain parental rights In order to exercise parental authority, the parents must request it from the judge, who will decide what the best option is for the child.