LYNN — At Red Rock Park Sunday evening, community members, educators, and activists came together for a Mother’s Day Vigil in support of a local mother, who has spent over a dozen years working in and serving the community, facing deportation.
An active member of the Lynn community, Mariola works as a paraeducator and as a trained medical interpreter. In addition, she provides interpretation services to local community organizations and families and is a student at Salem State University, where she is working toward her Bachelor’s.
A mother to a 15-year-old U.S. citizen with complex medical needs, Mariola fled Guatemala 16 years ago after enduring a lifetime of systemic violence and abuse — including the Guatemalan Genocide of the 1980s and 1990s — simply because her family is indigenous Mayan.
Over the years, Mariola has diligently attended all immigration check-ins and has been repeatedly granted a stay of removal. With little notice, she was told to expect to be deported at her next regularly scheduled check-in with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials on Monday.
Elected officials and community members, including many educators and families who have worked directly with Mariola, have sent thousands of appeals to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, urging them to allow her to continue to be the strong, contributing member of the community she has proven to be.
