From California to New Jersey, AFSC provides direct support to families impacted by detention and deportation. That includes legal representation, social work, accompaniment, and other support.
In Florida, AFSC is part of the Miramar Circle of Protection. Since 2017, the group has offered mutual aid, information, and other resources to immigrants navigating the immigration system.
Every Wednesday, AFSC staff and volunteers set up across the street from the local ICE facility in Miramar. We offer water, coffee, homemade pasteles, clothing, Know Your Rights information, and legal referrals. When someone comes for an ICE appointment and gets detained, our team documents what they can and helps families locate their loved ones.
AFSC Campaigns Coordinator Maria Bilbao helped found the Circle of Protection. In recent months, she says the group has assisted mothers facing eviction, deportation, and family separation.
Gladis is a mother of two. Her youngest was just two weeks old when ICE detained her husband while he was walking to the neighborhood store. Without her husband’s income, Gladis couldn’t pay the rent or afford groceries or diapers. The Circle of Protection mobilized, helping raise funds from the community to cover her rent for three months and other expenses until she figured out her next steps.
Doris and her husband were both detained and facing deportation. Maria connected them with legal help to get their affairs in order. The parents made the difficult decision to return to Honduras with their young children. Maria helped Doris get passports for their children so they could make the journey together.
Ana* came to the Circle of Protection after her husband was deported during an ICE check-in at the facility. She didn’t know how she was going to support their family. The group provided her with some financial assistance. They brought toys for her kids. And they connected with a local immigrant services organization that could offer long-term support.
“We are not charity,” Maria says. “We are showing up. We are bearing witness. We are documenting everything we’re seeing. We are there every day to stand with immigrants facing detention and injustice.”
This is what community looks like—people choosing to show up for one another. None of this work happens without people who believe families belong together and that all people deserve to live in dignity.
Because of supporters like you, we can walk alongside mothers like Gladis, Dori, and Ana—offering care, resources, and solidarity in the hardest moments.
This Mother’s Day, we stand with every mother harmed by detention and deportation. We stand with every family forced to navigate this inhumane system. And we will keep standing until every mother can spend this day where she belongs—with her children, her family, and her community.