I created this fundraiser for my friend Eliza Virgen and her family, who are currently living through something no family should ever have to endure.

You always hear stories like this happening to other families and pray it never happens to the people you love.

You see the headlines, the videos, the heartbreak, and you think about how cruel it is that families can be ripped apart overnight. You grieve for people you don’t even know, while also quietly hoping your own loved ones never have to feel that kind of pain.

And then one day, it happens to someone close to you.

Eliza’s mom has lived in the United States for decades. She built her life here. She worked, paid taxes, stayed out of trouble, raised her children here, and did what so many parents do — sacrificed everything she could to give her family a better life.

She is not just “their mom.” She is the glue. She is the one who kept everyone together. The one everyone called. The one who showed up. The one who carried so much of the family on her back, even when nobody saw it.

And now, she’s gone.

In less than 24 hours, Eliza’s mom was taken from everything she’s ever known and sent to a country she hasn’t called home since she was a child. One day she was here, and the next she was gone. No real time to process it, no time to prepare, no time to even understand how something this traumatic could happen so fast.

The hardest part is knowing this is happening to so many families right now.

They say they’re targeting criminals, but what’s really happening is they’re taking mothers from their children, ripping apart families, and leaving people with trauma they may carry for the rest of their lives.

This is not just an immigration issue.

This is not just politics.

This is not just “the system.”

This is real life.

This is someone’s mom.

This is Eliza’s mom.

A woman who has been here for decades.

A woman who raised children that now give back to their communities in healthcare and social work.

A woman who came here to build a life, and actually did.

And now the woman who spent her whole life holding everybody else together is thousands of miles away, while her family is left here trying to figure out how to survive this heartbreak.

The truth is, this is bigger than just what happened in one day. This kind of thing creates deep trauma. It leaves emotional damage that doesn’t just disappear once the headlines move on. It affects children, families, futures, and entire generations.

People talk a lot about policy, but not enough about the pain.

Not enough about the panic.

The crying.

The shock.

The empty feeling after.

The helplessness of knowing someone you love was just… taken.

And now Eliza and her family are trying to navigate the aftermath of something that has completely changed their lives.

We know this road is going to be long, painful, and expensive. But more than anything, we want her mom to know she is not forgotten, she is not alone, and her family is going to keep fighting for her every step of the way.

If you can donate, share, or even just keep Eliza and her family in your prayers, it would mean more than words can say.

Because behind every story like this is a family trying to survive the unimaginable.

And now, unfortunately, that family is theirs.

Thank you for standing with them.