The Domingos are a family beloved by all who know them. All the children went through the Escuelita Maya program and the eldest two regularly serve their community with the youth group at The Guatemalan-Maya Center. They pray each morning as a family.

Sunday was meant to be a sweet family day. The little ones and their parents piled into the car to go to Sunday mass. After they said their prayers, the parents wanted to treat their children to brand new shoes for the first day of school. As they were on their way to the store, border patrol unexpectedly pulled them over.

The eldest daughter, a U.S. citizen, was driving the car. Border patrol forced her parents to identify themselves even though they were only passengers. Border patrol admitted the driver had done nothing wrong, that they had scanned the license plate and saw it was associated with a non-citizen. A pattern we regularly see, the plate was scanned after law enforcement racially profiled an indigenous family. Both of the parents were detained, leaving the four children in the care of the eldest who just celebrated her 18th birthday the day before.

The 18-year-old has already taken a second job so she can help care for all of her siblings, all of whom just started the school year. The other children are: 16, 14, 11, and 3. The second eldest knows she is responsible for caring for the others while her sister works.

Please donate to help these children pay their rent, buy groceries and necessities, and pay for any legal fees associated with their parents' case. Their world was just torn apart, help us to make them a little more whole again.