Hilda traveled to the Dominican Republic with a delegation of other deportee families in April 2007. She delivered the following statement to an audience of scholars, government representatives and community members at a Transnational Migration Conference in Santo Domingo:

My name is Hilda Pena and I feel like I have lost 10 years of my life since the deportation of my husband. His US Citizen children miss him. He even helped me raise my own kids, from my first marriage. We have been married now for 36 years, in spite of being physically separated.

Our smallest child was 12, when his father was deported. I remained here in Washington Heights raising our children by my self. While he lived in this country, he worked as a mechanic and he owned his own business, until he was convicted for a crime. After completing his time, he was released on a $15,000 bail. All our family pitched in to obtain the amount.

Immigration arrived one night at our house, at 12:00 am, they almost knocked down my door, I was so nervous. My children were all present and so scared of the detectives. My husband was not home, and the officers waited until he returned. They took him away, from us with the pretext that he was just going downtown to sign some papers, because he did not present himself to an alleged appointment. He called and informed us, that he was not downtown, but at the Newark Airport on his way to Louisiana. He was judged there and then deported to the Dominican Republic, with the same clothes on, which he had when Immigration took him, away from us.

Immigration services promised to return half of the bail money to us, but never honored their word. The communication process is also horrible, we only heard from him, when he was on his way to be deported.

After he was gone, I became the only emotional and economical support for our kids.

It has been so tough to loose him and I miss him so much. His family has been kind to me, through this process. I feel that his deportation was unjust, because Immigration allowed us to pay the bail and then deported him, anyway.

Since his deportation, my health has deteriorated significantly. They sent him away without any justification. I feel that the Dominican Government needs to fight more for its nationals and welcome them in a more humane manner. Most of these Dominicans Citizens who are deported have solid skills, are bilingual and have much to offer to society, but instead are received with a huge lack of respect.

More institutions need to support the deportees, when they arrive, so that they can become active and productive citizens. It has also been a hardship on me, to send him money, because he owns a small businesses building coffins, but despite his assiduous labor, it is not enough to cover all his expenses, especially his medications. He is a senior citizen and in the Dominican Republic, lacks the services he needs to keep healthy.

When people make mistakes, they need to correct themselves, but they also deserve to be treated with dignity. The Immigration detention centers should also be investigated, because my husband told me that the way they treat you in there is unheard of.
Both, the United States and the Dominican Republic and all other countries need to work openly and together with the immigrants, not in such a secretive and despotic form.

I am proud to be part of the Families for Freedom and the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights and we should continue to be united, find solutions and bring relief to all the deportees back in the home countries.