April 2026 | Lori Goodman

With permission from the family, and at the mother’s request to amplify their experience, we are sharing a their story.

This past week has been intense, remarkable, and miraculous.

I am the CEO of LEAP, a nonprofit in Goleta, California that serves low-income families with childcare and family support. Many of our families are immigrants, including K’s family who are here with asylum status. K is two years old.

K and Mom are bona fide asylum seekers. They have complied with all their immigration requirements, including all immigration check-in appointments. On March 19, K and his mom and Dad were abruptly arrested and detained after dutifully appearing at an immigration check-in appointment.

Our Community Engagement Specialist, Laura, received a call from the family in detention letting us know what happened. Sadly, there was nothing we could do.

On Monday, March 30th, three things happened. First, Laura wrote to me about her call from K’s mom. She shared her sadness at not being able to do more, but also her recognition that our connection with the other families, the connections of trust enabled the family to call her and gave us the opportunity to support her emotionally. Laura wrote beautifully, and I want to share some of her words with you:

“I was approached by two other families who are part of our LEAP community. I showed up the only way I know how – with a smile, an open, heart and a willingness to listen…. I gave them my card. They told me that, at the very least, they felt peace knowing their children were safe at LEAP….

Somehow that connection traveled.

That small moment of showing up – of listening, of being present – carried my number across state lines, all the way to a detention center in Texas. That’s what connection does. Sometimes it’s not about having the answers or the power to fix everything. Sometimes it’s just about being there, meeting people where they are, and holding space for them. And, in this case, that was enough to build trust strong enough to travel thousands of miles.”

I was so touched by Laura’s words, that I decided to share that with my network. That was the second thing that happened. I wrote a personal email to many of the people who support LEAP, who care about us. And, I did something I don’t always do, I invited them to make a donation. I knew the people I shared this with would want to DO something. So, I suggested a donation to our emergency response fund.

Later that night, I got a call from another staff member. While she was eating dinner, she saw K’s face on the news in a story about the detention center in Dilley, TX. The story said he was sick, he hadn’t eaten in 12 days, and he wasn’t getting care. Understandably, she was terribly upset, broken hearted to see a child she worked so hard to enroll in our children’s center suffering. But, there was something hopeful in the news story. The San Antonio Texas Congressman, Joaquin Castro, was advocating for K’s release. I shared that news with the same group of donors. A handful of donations came in.

The next morning, Laura began receiving calls from the lawyer, Elora Mukherjee who had taken on the case, thanks to the news report from Lidia Terrazzas. The lawyer filed an appeal, and it was tentatively accepted. By 7:30 AM, we were told that if we could find a sponsor for the family, Mom and K might be released. I immediately found that sponsor.

Within an hour, immigration called me to confirm the sponsor. I was told that we needed to provide plane tickets for K and Mom at a specific time. Fortunately, because of the email that I just happened to send, we had enough in donations to cover last minute, refundable plane tickets from San Antonio to Santa Barbara. Evan, the master travel agent of our family booked the flights. I agreed to be the person that immigration would call, and I spoke several times to a bureaucrat facilitating the process. By noon, I had a text from immigration confirming that agents would drive K and Mom to the airport on Thursday. Things were beginning to look hopeful.

Now we needed to prepare for their arrival home. They no longer had a home because their landlord thought they had been deported and rented their room and got rid of most of their belongings. Housing in our area is so tight, the room was rented immediately. With the help Mom’s friend, we found a room for them and paid the first month’s rent. Thanks, again, to our emergency response fund.

On Wednesday, Laura went shopping to buy some clothes and basic food, imagining that they might not have had clothes with them. We made sure that K had a doctor’s appointment, on Thursday, since we knew he was sick. Meanwhile, we were tracking the flights. We celebrated when we learned that mom and K were at the airport. We cheered when the first plane took off. When Mom and K landed my team were there to greet them.

I’d like to end the story there, but that’s not the end.

K is only two years old. He suffered immensely in detention at Dilley. K was unable to eat solid food for the entirety of his detention at Dilley. For nearly two weeks, K vomited every time his mom tried to feed him solid food. He survived by drinking water and apple juice. K cried frequently and suffered mentally and physically. He developed a high fever. He was unable to sleep, awoken by the lights that were on 24/7 and the noises of patrolling guards at night. He desperately misses his father.

Both K and Mom are severely traumatized. He screamed hysterically getting into the car when Laura picked them up from the airport. He is now terrified of cars and car seats because of the way he was violently shoved into a car by ICE agents. K and Mom have nothing. We will make sure to get them on their feet. I’m hoping we can find a reputable lawyer to get K’s Dad released.

Today, Monday April 6, K returned to school. His teacher shared that he is happy and excited to be back in the classroom with the other children. He ate his breakfast and snack. He is safe.

We know that positive experiences can help heal the wounds of trauma. Trusted relationships, equitable environments, and a sense of belonging – along with therapy – can counteract some of the harmful effects of what happened to this family.

This story is an example of what we can do because we are a community.

If you want to help, here are some things you can do:

To donate directly to the family, here is their gofundme: https://gofund.me/81af1b43a

To donate to LEAP so that we can continue to support this family as well as others and do our work of providing high-quality, trauma-informed early childhood education and comprehensive family support, click here: https://leapcentralcoast.org/donate/

To see an initial report from Lidia Terrazzas of K’s release, see here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2HydcAS1KI

And, share this with your networks. Community can be powerful.