Advocate Like a Mother: Immigrant Rights Are Human Rights

Ida B. Wells, journalist and advocate once said - “The way to right wrongs is to shine the light of truth upon them.”

These are heavy times; there is no sugar coating this truth - immigrant families are being torn apart, disappeared and detained by ICE, 32 immigrant siblings have died in ICE custody in 2025 and 6 in this first month of 2026, all while American citizens who are legal observers are shot in broad daylight (Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Keith Porter, Jr., a loving father, was killed by an off duty ICE officer on December 31, 2025 in Los Angeles.

I type these words on a frigid January day as a mother, and human being in deep grief about the state of our country and world.

You see, I would not exist without immigration; my father Rudy (God rest his soul) came to the U.S. from Honduras carrying hope and dreams on his tongue, envisioning a country which would provide opportunity.

And even when America did not love him back as an Afro-Latinx man, he loved her fiercely; believing for a day when equality, and inclusion would eviscerate hatred and indifference.

I feel his compassionate spirit breaking open with mine in this moment as those in power continually normalize these horrors under the guise of “law and order.”

My Dad Rudy and I (he came to the U.S. from Honduras)

Crucial shifts - like abolishing ICE, and creating pathways to citizenship for hard working immigrants - must become our collective way forward, not mass imprisonment and harm.

I see the comment sections across social media platforms echoing empty knee-jerk phrases - “If they would just comply, come here legally, or stay in their own countries…” and for those observing legally - “Just don’t get involved, everything would be OK.

But silence, in the face of injustice, is not an option.

I know many of us are exhausted; our own lives as caregiving Mamas include immense challenges; still, as we advocate for our children, we must advocate for ALL children (from those incarcerated in these “detention centers” to kids in Palestine, Congo and Sudan) because freedom and safety for some, but not all is how we arrived in a reality where millions of children - often Black, brown and disabled - are seen as disposable.

Last week on Instagram, I wrote about Liam Ramos, the 5-year-old preschooler wearing his sky blue bunny ears hat, and spider man backpack. The photo went viral; today he is quite ill - vomiting, tired and depressed.
Rep. Joaquin Castro visited him and his Dad yesterday, and is demanding their release. Donate to his GoFundMe here.

Image via @LatinxParenting

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Most of us cannot stand on picket lines due to the intensity of our caregiving, but we can all do something where we are, whether petitioning, donating to mutual aid, following and learning from organizations who are on the ground and amplifying their work on social media, while sharing those resources with family and friends.

1) Keep Calling Your Reps.

Use @5calls to reach your reps (script provided) and demand that our tax dollars stop going to funding ICE terror. 

Hi, my name is [NAME] and I'm a constituent and caring mother from ________ . I'm calling to urge Senator _______ push to defund ICE by opposing any appropriations bill that maintains ICE funding. This lawless agency is endangering public safety and must be held accountable. Further, Senator _______  must demand a standalone DHS funding bill so that funding for other government agencies is not held hostage during negotiations. We, the people, mothers who bring forth life, will not stand by as families are separated and harmed. Thank you for your time and consideration.

2) Sign This Petition: Each Step Home, who works to reunite families separated by immigration policies, has a petition demanding the Flores settlement which provides protections for children held in these detention centers be upheld. The 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement is a binding, court-supervised consent decree setting national minimum standards for the detention, treatment, and release of minors in federal immigration custody. It requires the government to place minors in the least restrictive, licensed facilities, prioritizing release to family members, and generally limiting detention time. Text GO ESH to 50409 and demand these family detention centers are shut down. Children and families do not belong in cages.

3) Learn with Detention Watch Network (DWN): #CommunitiesNotCages Campaign
This campaign, according to the DWN website, has “three dedicated branches1) stopping expansion, 2) uplifting communities, and 3) shrinking the system: shut down campaigns.” This work amplifies the longstanding local organizing of Detention Watch Network (DWN) members, advocates, and allies across the country, while building a nationally coordinated strategy with the goal to ultimately abolish the detention system in its entirety. Begin by taking action here.

4) Contribute to mutual aid efforts (either by donating and / or uplifting their work on social media) through orgs. like Border Kindness which “provides asylum-seekers, migrants, refugees, and the displaced with comprehensive services that include food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and legal services. Our programs and interventions are designed to identify, protect, and nurture the most vulnerable, including women, children, the elderly, and families. Border Kindness believes everyone should have the opportunity to live free of pain, hunger, intimidation, and fear. We believe everyone is our neighbor.”

Check out their current campaign to raise emergency funds to care for community members in need.

Migrant Mutual Aid helps folks in the DMV area and is “made up of community organizations and hundreds of individual volunteers who are committed to supporting migrants arriving in DC. Anchored by Peace House DC, Beloved Community Incubator, East of the River Mutual Aid, and Sanctuary DMV, the network has been showing up, since the first Texas bus arrived in April 2022, to welcome our new neighbors through solidarity, not charity.” They also have an emergency ICE hotline to report raids or request resources.

And if you are more curious about mutual aid (a long standing tradition within Indigenous and immigrant communities) and how it helps us in various ways, check out this short article on the NEA’s website: Mutual Aid is an Act of Resistance and Community Support.

Black immigrants from Haiti, across Africa, and the Caribbean are also deeply impacted by this horrific policies. Learn from and support the work of Haitian Bridge Alliance a “501(c)(3) grassroots nonprofit community organization that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies and provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal, and social services, with a particular focus on Black people, the Haitian community, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses.”

The Black Immigrants Bail Fund is a National project of the Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) and the African Bureau for Immigration and Social Affairs (ABISA) with support of other Black-led organizations that provides free assistance and relief to Black immigrants in pursuit of Liberation and Justice. Our commitment is to eradicate the mass incarceration of Black immigrants and level the playing field of equity in due process; transforming one life at a time.

5) Join the National Strike tomorrow - no work, shopping or school, if you are able (which is not always accessible for folks with disabilities, lower incomes, etc.). Check out this post from Bright Black Candle for multiple ways to show up if you cannot fully participate in the strike - from using your social media platform to community care and after work / indirect action.

May we never forget, we belong to each other.