I am originally from Mexico and studied electronic engineering there until I moved to Grand Rapids in 1991.

My family has been living and working there since 1945 when the United States was doing all they could to get workers from Mexico to come to this country to work during the war effort. My husband, two daughters, and I have a comfortable life in Grand Rapids. But when I think of the hard-working immigrants who came to this country in an effort to make a better life for their families back in Mexico, I know that I must act.

I think about what is must be like for them to go to a job and possibly get stopped on the drive home because of a minor traffic incident, then be deported knowing your family will not have you home for dinner and possibly never see you again. I cannot be indifferent to the injustice of this broken system. My faith moves me to help take action.

I plan to take my fast for fair immigration reform far beyond the two days on the National Mall in DC. I am committed to go as long as I possibly can without food to get my Congress Member Justin Amash (R) to vote for reform. I spent this morning at the Capitol with a delegation of faith-based organizers from Michah, a Michigan faith-based organization where I serve as a board member and leader on immigration advocacy.

We represent over 40 churches statewide of different faiths. Our delegation delivered a letter asking to meet with the Congress Member to get a commitment from him to call for a vote on immigration reform. While the Fast for Families and Women Together event on the National Mall will end tomorrow, I plan to fast even as I return to Michigan.

I am meeting with staff from Congress Member Amash’s district office in Grand Rapids on Friday and plan stay at his office at the federal building to get support from other constituents in his district who support an end to the family separations that take place because of deportations.