Mark, a U.S. citizen, received his high school diploma in May 2026 while his father Marco watched remotely from Mexico, nearly 2,000 miles away. Marco was arrested by ICE in December 2025 and deported to El Salvador in March despite 40 years in the country and owning a contracting business in Maryland. Mark struggled academically during his senior year following his father's deportation but completed his education. A Guardian investigation found that during the first seven months of the Trump administration, approximately 27,000 children—including 12,000 U.S. citizens—were separated from their parents through immigration enforcement.