A retelling of a popular 1990s teen drama will now center around perhaps the worst nightmare for any mixed-status immigrant family: being ripped apart by arrest and deportation. A new trailer for Freeform’s Party of Five reboot shows the Acosta children, ranging from an infant to young adults, struggling to survive on their own following the deportation of both of their parents. While just over a minute long, it’s heart-wrenching, showing the family’s dad telling the eldest son in Spanish, “You have to be strong, son. Be strong.”
This fictional family separation mirrors a very true and harsh reality: the U.S. commonly deports parents with no consideration as to what might happen to any U.S.-born kids who get left behind. Some children are old enough to become parents to their young siblings. Some go to relatives. Others have far more devastating experiences, with research from 2011 indicating that at least 5,000 U.S.-born kids were in foster care following the deportation of their parents.
The current number of U.S.-born kids in foster care under the Trump administration’s policies is not exact, but officials have deported undocumented parents who have lived here for years, like Jesus Garcia. Too old to have qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Garcia was deported to Mexico after three decades here, leaving behind his wife and two U.S.-born children.
The Party of Five reboot doesn’t yet have a release date, but Remezcla reports it may have a midseason premiere. If the series itself is as compelling as the trailer, it will have an important and vital story to share regarding our cruel deportation policies and the effects they have on America’s children. Watch the trailer after the jump.