Today The Guardian publishes the Christmas wishlists of children aged 2 to 9 that will spend their holidays behind bars in an immigration detention center in Berks, Pennsylvania.

In their cards, the children ask for toys and trinkets in keeping with their young age. An iPad, candies, a set of headphones... But apart from "things", these children also share another wish:  “to get out of here, to be with my daddy”, writes one little girl. Another one, specifies: “a present of my liberty”.

Many of the children locked up at Berks Familiy Detention center are immigrants, especially from Central America (Honduras, Salvador, Guatemala). They are held along with their mothers under the custody of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). For example, 2-year old Said, who has also spent almost half his young life detained in a room which he shares with his mother Amparo, an Honduran,and two other mother-and-child pairs. They were picked up on the border of Texas as they tried to enter the US to seek asylum. Amparo counts the days they have been held by US immigration authorities: 422.

“What it boils down to is that the government is saying that two-year-old Said is subject to indefinite mandatory detention,” said CarolAnne Donohoe, an immigration attorney who has represented many Berks families.

Families affected were already unhappy with Obama's Administration policy of deportation. Now they fear the worst with Trump in the White House.

Read the full story in The Guardian.