Friend,

This holiday season, many of us will gather around tables filled with food, laughter, and love with our friends and families. But not everyone will be together this holiday season.

Immigration agents continue to abduct our immigrant neighbors, raid workplaces, and tear families apart. Across the country, families are feeling the weight of their loved ones who’ve been ripped away and the painful absences that linger at their tables.

It makes me think of this artwork by Jess X. Snow, which depicts a Honduran immigrant mother who has been separated from her son. She reaches across the border to join hands with him, forming constellations of hope that persist despite borders and detention. It is a tribute to an enduring truth: families belong together.

This season, let us hold space for those missing at our tables, and for those who have sacrificed so much to fight for their families. Let us recognize the courage and strength of the mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters who risk everything in search of a better life.

And let us commit to the fight for justice, dignity, and humanity for everyone – and a country that keeps families together, instead of tearing them apart.

Sincerely,

Kica Matos
President
National Immigration Law Center