Families Split By Deportation Reunite Online
"It's bath time for 19-month-old Lucas Guerra, who splashes in delight as his mother, Amy, washes him in their West Chicago home while his father looks on from Monterrey, Mexico.
"Can you lift the screen a little bit?" Carlos Guerra asks, his voice coming from the laptop computer that Amy Guerra has placed on top of a plastic bathroom hamper.
The laptop is adjusted and Carlos' view changes from the lip of the bathtub to the smiling toddler he's seen in person only twice since the boy was born. "That's good, thank you," Carlos says.
The Guerras arrangement — a father watching his child grow up through choppy digital bytes provided by a computer — is an increasingly common reality for thousands of families separated by U.S. immigration laws, prompting the creation of several online support groups."
ANTONIO OLIVO in the Chicago Tribune.