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A family’s struggles to reunite after a border separation · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu: Good morning! It’s Tuesday, July 25th. I’m Shumita Basu. This is “Apple News Today.” On today’s show… Protests intensify in Israel… Why it’s so hard to turn empty office buildings into desperately needed housing… And the powerful nostalgia of the shopping-mall experience.
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  Basu: But first, a look at the long-lasting human impact of the Trump-era separations of migrant families. Many parents who were separated from their children at the border are still fighting to reunite their families. But it’s been complicated for a number of reasons.
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  Basu: “The Washington Post” has the deeply moving story of what happened when a mother and her two daughters travelled from Guatemala to the U.S. in 2017. Magdalena Hernández Pérez thought they had a strong asylum case, so they surrendered to a group of Border Patrol agents in Arizona. But soon, Magdalena was shackled and told to say goodbye to her daughters. They were one of the first of thousands of cases of families torn apart by the Trump administration’s border policy. “Washington Post” investigative correspondent, Kevin Sieff, tells us what happened next.
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  Kevin Sieff: So, about a month, a month and a half after crossing the border, after being separated from her children, Magdalena was deported back to Guatemala. At this point, she had no idea where her daughters had been taken. Her daughters, meanwhile, had entered this sort of labyrinthine system that's designed mostly for unaccompanied children, unaccompanied migrant children. Of course, they had crossed the border with their mother, but because they were separated, they were considered unaccompanied.
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  Basu: Ultimately, Magdalena’s daughters ended up in foster care. Mildred, the younger daughter, was taken in by a foster family in California when she was nine. Wendy, her older sister, was with her until she became an adult and moved to Tennessee to be closer to relatives.
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  Basu: Last year, the Biden administration was attempting to reunite families, and issued Magdalena a humanitarian visa. She was able to return to the United States and begin the process of getting Mildred back, who was now a teenager. But a judge in California needed to be convinced that would be best for Mildred. And her foster parents also wanted her to stay.
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  Sieff: She was about to begin this really bizarre, kind of Kafka-esque, legal process to try to regain custody of her own biological child, which she had lost, really, without knowing it after they were separated at the border.
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  Basu: Magdalena had been vetted by social workers, passed multiple background checks, and had a letter of support from Homeland Security. But there was no guarantee she would get her daughter back. For the child, Mildred, all of this was confusing and traumatic.
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  Sieff: I think it was hard for her not to blame her mother for the separation, even though, of course, the separation was not at all Magdalena's fault. And so, as those years passed, I think Mildred told herself that she was going to be in California forever, you know. She just didn't really imagine that her mother was ever going to be able to come back to the United States. And then when her mom, when Magdalena finally did arrive in the U. S., I think Mildred was a little conflicted. I think she felt comfortable at that point in California, comfortable in the foster home. And I think she felt a little estranged from her mother, having been apart for those crucial years.
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  Basu: Mildred eventually told her social worker and foster parents that she would like to live with her mother. But getting the judge to approve the change took months. And the long legal process added to everyone’s emotional turmoil.
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  Sieff: And so, it created this immense personal challenge in the middle of a legal challenge, which was, Magdalena was going to have to rebuild her relationship with her own daughter. Which, of course, had diminished not because of anything that she did, but because of a U. S. policy.
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  Basu: Today, Magdalena is back together with her children in Tennessee. But her visa is only good for 3 years. That means not too long from now, she could face a whole new set of legal hurdles to keep the family together.
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  Basu: Now, let’s take a look at some other major stories in the news, including another immigration development. The Justice Department is suing Texas over a floating barrier the state placed in the Rio Grande. It’s designed to make it harder for migrants to swim across the border. The thousand-foot chain of orange buoys is part of Governor Greg Abbott’s effort to stop illegal border crossings. The $4 billion dollar state program has used Texas state police officers and National Guard troops, and deployed razor wire along the border. Critics say the moves are dangerous for migrants. The Justice Department says, in the new lawsuit, that the water barrier was put in without the required federal permission.
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  Basu: Abroad, protests are intensifying in Israel against the Netanyahu administration’s move to reduce the power of the country’s Supreme Court. Since we talked about the vote on the show yesterday, more demonstrators have taken to the streets in some of the largest protests in the country’s history. The White House says that Israel’s parties need to work together to find a consensus way forward. Opposition leaders promise a fight to roll back the legislation.
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  Basu: There’s new research this morning on extreme heat around the world. A group of climate scientists say the heat waves hitting the southwest U.S. and southern Europe would’ve been, quote, “virtually impossible,” without the impact of climate change driven by humans. The findings say that in the past, heat like we’re feeling now would’ve been extremely rare.
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  Basu: And President Biden is designating a national monument at three sites honoring Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. Today is Emmett Till’s birthday. His 1955 lynching, and his mother’s decision to hold a public funeral with an open casket, were instrumental in the U.S. Civil-Rights Movement.
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  Basu: In many major American cities, office buildings are looking emptier than ever. Many people who worked from home during lockdowns haven’t come back. Meanwhile, there’s a major shortage of affordable housing in this country. Which is why some cities are now trying to turn office space into apartments. New York City Mayor, Eric Adams. is one of the leaders calling on lawmakers and developers to make this happen.
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  [START NYC MAYOR’S OFFICE ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Eric Adams: We have millions of square feet of unused office spaces that is right now ready to be converted into housing. This just makes sense.
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  [END NYC MAYOR’S OFFICE ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Shumita Basu: It might seem like an easy way to solve two problems at the same time. But “NPR” explains how it’s a lot harder than it looks.
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  Basu: First, office buildings just aren’t designed with residential needs in mind. There’s often only one set of bathrooms on every floor. Probably no showers. The windows might be huge, which is fine for work but not practical for living. So, it’s not as simple as moving desks out to make room for beds and couches.
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  Basu: Then there’s the regulations. Cities have strict zoning rules that prevent buildings from being quickly converted into housing. Re-zoning paperwork eats up time and money which makes it unattractive for developers to invest. As one architect puts it to “NPR,” the economics of these projects are not slam dunks.
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  Basu: But urban leaders are trying to change things to make it easier to turn unused office space into much-needed housing. It’s not just more efficient, it’s good for the environment. Building construction is responsible for 11% of global carbon emissions. So, making an old building more useful is smart design that helps the planet too.
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  Basu: Let’s close with a story about a different kind of dying real estate: the shopping mall. Ecommerce put many of these places out of business. But, before a dead mall gets torn down, there’s typically an auction to try to sell off everything inside. “The Wall Street Journal” took a look at one of these events in Maryland and found many bidders who were there for the nostalgia.
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  Shumita Basu: In their heyday, shopping malls were the places where suburban teens would meet up. I grew up in New Jersey where malls were a big part of the teenage social scene. It’s where people had their first dates, their first jobs, or just regular hangouts. I mean, think about it, where else could you go to loiter around indoors and not have to spend money? Now those teens are all grown up and they’ve got money to spend on mementos. A six-and-a-half-foot tall teddy bear went for $55. Somebody dropped a few grand on an elaborate holiday display that included 15 Christmas trees.
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  Basu: One woman told the “Journal” about her mall memories, including dressing up as the mall’s Easter Bunny one year to pose for pictures with kids. Now she’s in her 60s, and she walked away from the mall’s auction with some of the sculptures that used to hang in the food court. She’ll use them to decorate her flower shop. She says, “It’s cool to have something from this place where she used to spend so much time before online shopping took over.”
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  Basu: You can find all these stories, and more, in the Apple News app. And if you’re already listening in the News app right now, we’ve got a “New York Magazine” article cued up for you that goes deeper on the office real-estate crisis we talked about today.
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  Basu: That’s up next, and I’ll be back with the news tomorrow.
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