150 SW 13th Avenue, Miami, FL  33135
Phone  (786) 264-1708; Fax  (786) 264-1859
interfaith@sfiwj.org; www.sfiwj.org
Florida community shared their testimonies with a panel of community leaders at a forum co-
sponsored by South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice (SFIWJ) on November 21st in Homestead.
Some of the panelists included Maria Rodriguez of the Florida Immigrant Coalition; Lisa Sharon
the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami; Marleine Bastien of FANM (Haitian Women of Miami); and Jose
Rodriguez of Florida Legal Services. Archdeacon Fritz Bazin, head of the Immigration and Social
Justice Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese, was unable to attend but sent his support.

Community members shared tragic stories that are, unfortunately, all too common amongst our
friends and neighbors -- spouses and parents detained and deported, fifteen year old children left
to head families; unpaid wages, exploitation at work. Maria, a pregnant mother of two, shared the
story of her husband's detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a month ago.
She's been unable to get recent information and doesn't know if he's been deported. The children
are confused and sad; they miss their father. Every time her son hears a car pulling up, he eagerly
asks, “Is that Daddy coming home?”  The couple has debts in Guatemala. They were working hard
here. Maria doesn't know how she would feed her children in Guatemala.

One community member voiced a shared despair and anger over the raids in South Dade: “We
can't wait. Summer is going to be too late. They're tearing our families apart. You’re going to see
Homestead with nothing here. It’s going to be a ghost town."

Panelist Marleine Bastien stated, “It is very important for us to show – not only to the Obama
Administration, but to all Americans -- that we are human beings. We have hopes. We want to
better our lives. We love our children.”

Says Jeanette Smith of SFIWJ, "The forum was a very important opportunity for people to share
their stories, to know that someone is listening. We must break the silence. These stories need to
be shared with the wider community. Many people simply don't know what is happening because
if they did, they would speak out. They would not accept the tears of mothers and of children --
the destruction of families."

The “Breaking the Silence” forum was sponsored by WeCount!, South Florida Interfaith Worker
Justice, the Farmworkers Association of Florida (Homestead), the American Friends Service
Committee, and the South Florida Wage Theft Task Force.
Breaking the Silence
Public Forum on the Situation
Faced by Immigrants
member
shares her
story at a
public forum
on
immigration
on November
21st in
Homestead.