Family Separation 2.0 (2025)

So I was in class. I was about to turn in all my work to the teacher, so I was already starting to pack up my things slowly and I got a call from my mom.

She seemed very down. And she was like — it’s when you hear somebody, they’re trying not to cry, but they’re really like, holding it in. And I could hear in her voice, and that’s when I started to get a little bit worried. And she told me that, like, your father got detained.

And then that’s when it was just like — it felt like somebody put literally 10,000 blocks of bricks on my chest. I was just hearing mumbles. I felt like I was building up so many emotions and it was all going to come out. And I didn’t want anybody to see me like that, so I just gave my paper to my teacher and I ran out of the classroom. And I tried to get in my car as fast as possible.

It’s just like, you just start envisioning the worst, like he’s in this terrible place. This is a hard-working man, no criminal record. You guys just took him.

Hello?

Hi.

Hi.

So this is — Jessica, this is Ayla. She’s Fabricio’s 20-year-old daughter.

OK, great. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too. My name is Ayla Gomes.

Tell me a little bit about your dad. What is his name? How old is he? And what does he do?

My dad, he’s Fabricio Gomes. He is 47 years old, and he works at a construction company of his own.

Tell me about why he left Brazil.

[SPEAKING PORTUGUESE]? Sorry. I’m just asking these questions for my mom, because I never really went in depth of —

So my mom said it was due to the violence down there and, like, he couldn’t make a living for himself, let alone have a family down there.

They actually walked into each other. And they were like, oh, my god. Like, I remember you, blah, blah, blah.

So he had been working, like, small jobs, almost like a handyman.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

And then he met somebody, which is my dad’s old boss, that still remains in our life, Ken. And he slowly taught my dad how to work. It went from changing door panels, windows, to fixing inside the house. And then it went to roofing, until he gathered up all his knowledge that he had, and then that’s when he decided that he was ready to open his company and start creating a life for himself and our family.

And is your sense that he loves his job?

Yes. My dad is actually very passionate for his job. You would think he wouldn’t be, because you’re constantly going up a ladder. It’s so cold, since we live in Massachusetts, and it’s really a hard job.

My dad, wherever he walks, he talks out loud to everybody. And he talks to people like he knows people. He’s always talked to his clients like he knew them for so long. I don’t know how he talks to them. Everybody understands him.

As a little kid, I was like, my dad’s kind of tomboy. I’d always buy construction little kids kit and I would always go around the house with plastic toys.

Me and my dad are the type of person where we take something that is not good, and we reform it to make it into a better place. When something’s not designed properly, it doesn’t feel that good, like walking to a house that is just simple. There’s no design. It just feels down. And when you reform it, it brings another life.

It sounds like you and your dad shared a special bond over your love of building things. So I wonder if you have an early memory of him sharing that love of construction with you.

Yes so this was a fifth grade science fair.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

First, I had to do kind of the blueprint. So I went to my cousin, and we drew the measurements and everything. And then I went to my dad. It was for a ramp to define gravity. If we were to drop something, it would fall on the ramp and it would flip up. My dad took me — one of my favorite stores, it’s Lowe’s and Home Depot. And that’s my dad’s automatic favorite store, because he always has to be there.

And we had to buy wood, nails, and we had to use the saw because the corners had to connect. So we had to cut it diagonally to connect. So he taught me measurements, too. I got to do this with my dad. I was able to present it to my class. I was able to show it to my teacher.

And I got so congratulated for it at school that it’s just like, oh, my god. Everybody’s going to know me. Everybody’s going to know my dad. I’d be like, do you know what my dad does construction? He could build your house. And I’d offer up like, he could do things for you. He could build your house. I would actually walk around with my parents’ card in my purse, offering everybody.

I always wanted to work with my dad. I’m not going to be able to carry all the shingles, the roofs, and everything that he does. But I’m going to do what my dad does, which is why I went to college for architecture and interior design, so eventually, in the future, I could work with my dad’s company.

His dream was always for us to go to college and pursue something that we have passion for, because they weren’t able to choose their own path. You’re not born saying, I’m going to clean toilets. I’m going to be a contractor. You’re born thinking like, I want to be a businesswoman. I want to go after this. I want to have my own company. I want to have my own home.

And it’s just like, I feel like that’s what their main goal for us was, that we’re able to choose our own path. My dad, he’s always been the person to tell us work hard. Nothing’s gifted. Nothing’s handed. Go after it.

So fast forward to today. The dream that you described your dad having for you guys was in progress. You’re in college. Your dad is working hard at a business that he owns. When Trump was inaugurated on January 20, did your family have conversations about what precautions you guys would take, given that he was aggressively pursuing people without documentation?

I would always ask my dad, should we worry? And he’d always tell us, no. Don’t worry. As much as obviously when I’m alone, when anybody’s alone, you always have that thought in the back of your mind — like, what am I going to do? What if things go down? Obviously, we worry at all times. But I try not to, because if my dad himself could be positive through something like this and always tell us that, don’t worry, things are always going to get better, I’m not going to sit here and panic.

We were all trying our best to treat it like a regular day. He literally called his clients, spoke to them that morning, said that after his court he’s going to go to work and he’s going to fix so-and-so’s roof and do this and that. So he just shows up for his yearly check-in, and you go there, you represent yourself, talk about whatever is being asked. And that was about it.

[SOMBER MUSIC]

I was hyperventilating. I felt like my heart just left my chest.

I think about him being there. I think about him being in this closed up space, so I worry a lot at night. What if he’s panicking and we don’t know? What if he’s holding strong, but he’s actually having the hardest time of his life? That’s what constantly replays in my head. So it just felt like my whole heart got ripped out of my chest, because I never got to really say a proper goodbye, like, I’ll see you later.

[SOMBER MUSIC]

I’ll give it to my dad. From the first day that he called us to speak to us, that man has been holding strong. Every time we call, he has the most positive energy, and so positive that he will see us and things will go back to — not normal, because I don’t feel like anybody could really treat life as normal after the situation, but definitely better.

I’m the only one eligible to visit because I’m over 18. And I was actually filling out the papers, and I was on the phone with him telling him when he called my mom, I’m filling out the papers to come visit you. I’m trying, like, because you have to send it through the mail. It’s a whole process, so I tried to do it as fast as possible. And he told me, as much as I would love to see you guys so much, just don’t come here, because this is not the person that I am. And he was just like, it would hurt to see you get up from that chair and turn your back and have to leave. That’s when reality would hit. It’s very hard to comprehend that, and it’s very hard to imagine that.

We’d open every conversation like he was here with us, like I’m walking into the house saying hi to him. [NON-ENGLISH]. Hi, Dad, how are you? I missed you. We continue lives how it is, like, on the phone.

[SOMBER MUSIC]

What are some of the updates that you give him on how life was going for you?

I gave him updates on my grades. I gave him updates on my finals. While I can’t show it to him, my projects, since they’re all online-based, because they’re all like floor plans, stuff like that — but I give him the visual analysis.

So my school requires me to do an internship. Within that day that I literally got that interview, from the night before that I got a call to get the interview, as soon as he called, let him know. He’s telling me, good luck on your interview. My dad always says to be prepared and be at least — while my dad, at his job, he was like, if you let him, he was an hour early. So he would at least tell me to be at least 30 minutes early.

So I took that advice. I was 30 minutes early. And on top of that, I already had everything printed. I literally had in a folder — he was like, yep, that’s how I like. So as soon as she was ready to give me the opportunity, I could just give her the folder and I was automatically hired.

Oh, wow. Amazing. And then how did you share the news with him?

I just like — I couldn’t hold it. I literally was like, hi, [NON-ENGLISH]. How are you? He was like, great. Your mom said you had great news for me. I was like, yep. And I told him, I was just like, I got the job. I’m working at the company, explained the company to him. And he was like, look at you. I’m so proud of you.

He would always tell me, these are the things that keep me going. You’re going after your future. You’re creating a future for yourself. And I need you to continue to do that for me.

Can you hear me?

Yes, I can.

How was your Easter Sunday?

You know, it’s fine. We’re just missing our dad, so —

Yeah.

He got transferred to Louisiana last night.

It’s quite literally a prison where people that actually committed real crimes would be in. He’s in a jail cell where it’s just like, 10 times worse. Guards are completely strict. There’s no really sitting there conversating with them. Like, they’re guards. And he says that it’s a mess in there. It’s just very chaotic. Everybody’s everywhere. Everybody’s mixed.

He was very sincere this time on this call.

Hmm.

Like, it’s not good. Usually, he wouldn’t really complain about Plymouth. But now, like my mom was saying right now to me, that since it’s starting to hit two months and reality’s really knocking at our door, especially with the deportation, now I feel like he’s really being sincere of how he’s truly feeling. And I don’t want to say he’s in full panic, but he’s really feeling it. Even so, on the phone, I can hear himself let go.

[SOMBER MUSIC]

I can hear his voice drop. And I can hear that excitement that he would try to have low.

It’s like this feeling of life keeps going and life still feels normal, but there’s something wrong. It’s just all so real now. Within these last days, I’ve felt like my anxiety has been over the roof. It just feels like it’s so hard to get through your day. It’s so hard because I can’t believe it. You cannot tell me they’ll be taking my dad and he will be in Brazil for the next, like, 10 years up until we can reapply for him to come — that does not cross my mind.

Oh, man. Would you ever consider moving to Brazil to be with your dad, if it came to that?

As much as I would love to stay here and be like, yeah, my family is going to reunite in Brazil where — it can’t be a plan. And it’s also — it can’t be a plan due to the fact that my parents have worked way too damn hard, too many years of their damn life to come here.

Mm-hmm.

I will be continuing college. And if anything, I will be continuing their success times that by 100. I refuse to believe that they’ll be throwing that away. And if I can even continue my dad’s company, to keep going and get other people to manage it, I will be continuing to making their name. So Brazil was never in my plans. It’s one thing to take my dad away from me. It’s another to take everything that they worked hard for.

I wanted to ask, what do you make of the fact that for a lot of Americans your father’s story, while sympathetic, might at the end of the day feel like, yeah, he ultimately was here not legally? What would you say to those people who might agree with the administration’s policies to remove people like your dad, who don’t have documentation here?

I’d get it if you’re talking about a murderer that doesn’t belong here and he’s just out running on the street, or I’d get that. But if you’re OK with separating families because they’re just simply immigrants, that’s a battle you’re dealing within yourself. If they’re hearing my story specifically, I hope they hear that, and that they try to picture one of their daughters sitting here and having to talk about one of their parents like this. Because somebody out there is wishing that on somebody else, and I just really want them to picture that.

I’m really thinking about how your dad coached you through the interview that you did to obtain that internship, and how if your dad is deported back to Brazil, that that’s going to be the permanent state of your relationship, that he’s always going to have to coach you from afar, father you from afar. I wonder if you’ve thought about that. Has that sunk in with you? And can you bear that new version of that relationship?

I cannot possibly bear that at all. I can’t even envision that.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

My dreams was to have both of my parents see me walk the stage. That’s within two years. I don’t believe that my dad will not be there. Because, at the end of the day, I really did it for him. And then, in a couple of years, I’m supposed to get married and have a family. Like, that sounds unreal doing that without my dad.

Yeah.

And it sounds like you’re talking about somebody that passed away, but quite literally, I refuse to believe — those were my plans. Those are what I used to pray for God. Now that’s not even my prayers anymore. That’s how much I already feel like I’m changing my life. It feels like everything that I worked for has no meaning to it. Everything no longer has a value since it could all just be taken away from you.

I guess, at this point, you’re in college right now. You’re studying architecture and interior design. And you picked that major because you hope that you could eventually work with your dad. And that dream is looking dimmer and dimmer. What is that dream now?

As of right now, there’s like, no dream, no goal. There’s no — that dream that you dream big of, oh, I really want to do this, it’s just kind of — I want to be completely honest. It’s just bland. It’s just like, OK, well — my dream is to just be able to push through this.

Have you dreamed about reuniting with your dad, on the other hand? And if so, when you picture seeing him, where do you imagine it will be? And what do you think he’ll look like?

That I have a literal ideal dream — me just getting that call of being told, like, go pick up your dad.

[HOPEFUL MUSIC]

And all I could think of is me just parking my car, getting out my car. He’s standing outside, quite literally the same exact person he left — in his work clothes, just the way he is with his face, his regular face. The same exact way he left is the same exact way. I’ll be seeing him in that vision.

Like no time had passed.

No. Like, literally no time has passed, but it feels like life spinned upside down.

Yeah.

And just hugging my dad, and all I could literally do is cry, like, cry my literal heart out. You ever just cried as a kid where you would literally hiccup?

Yeah.

Like, so much. That type of cry. Everything that I’ve been holding in within these two months is — that’s exactly how I see.

It’s like a deja vu vision. It’s just like, it just feels like it’s going to happen. And it’s all I think about. That’s all I can envision over and over again, every single day that I wake up. And it’s just me. It’s not like my mom’s around, my sister’s around. It’s just me and my dad.