After weeks of fear and heartbreak, Alejandra, Paulo, and their children are finally reunited. ICE tore this family apart just weeks after their newborn girl came home from the NICU.

Educators, schools, and neighbors are stepping up to protect families and keep ICE from tearing students away from their communities. Here are the stories from across the country of communities coming together to protect each other. Families belong together.

After being detained by ICE in Colorado last month during a work trip, violinist John Shin was released after 17 days thanks to the relentless advocacy of his wife Danae and their community. His experience is a powerful reminder: families belong together.

Jorge should still be with his family and his community. #FamiliesBelongTogether

Coast to coast, our gente showed up. Even with ICE separating families, we came together to celebrate who we are with our communities. ✊🏽🇲🇽 #HispanicHeritageMonth #FamiliesBelongTogether

For more than a decade, DACA has transformed lives, families, and our communities. DACA protects people from deportation so they can stay with loved ones. It provides access to work permits and higher education. It empowers immigrant youth to pursue their dreams and give back.

“And I want the world to know that I’m really sad. Sometimes I’m sad. Sometimes I’m mad. Sometimes I don’t know what to feel.” Video from: @flowerinspanish

Every day Xóchitl, a DACA recipient and community organizer, spends in detention is time she’ll never get back with her family. She deserves freedom, dignity, and the right to stay in the only home she’s ever known. #FreeXochitl Video footage with @belensisa.bsky.social

Church leaders are showing up to support community members who are simply trying to navigate the system and follow the process.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia—a father, husband, union member, and day laborer—has been forced through half a year of unimaginable government abuse: disappeared to a foreign torture prison, lied about, and under imminent threat of deportation to Uganda and separation from his family.

Because families belong together. Always.