It is probably very difficult for you to imagine that today would be your last day you would see your parents, your children or your siblings. But to Veronica Saravia and her family this is not something she has to imagine.

Veronica, who is from a typical mixed-status family, joined CASA de Maryland when she was 17 because she wanted to fight to keep her family together. Her family has been torn apart for five years and it is an experience that she wants nobody to go through. The only communication her family has is phone calls between them.

It might be hard to imagine your last day before your family is ripped apart, but it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine how a mother would feel when she couldn’t hold her children when they are crying, when she couldn’t be around at the times when her children are going to school, when she could only hear their voices through a cold machine instead of giving them a hug. It wouldn’t be difficult for us to imagine what it would be like if a mother couldn’t say “I love you” to her children face-to-face.

Veronica is encouraging everyone to help families like hers fight for pathway to citizenship. It’s unfair to separate hardworking families because of our broken immigration system. We need nothing less than the pathway to citizenship.

Veronica is not fighting alone. Organizations such as the Center for Community Change are also standing on behalf of immigrants. We promote the family values that make up the American people throughout its history. The values of fairness, justice and equality are the American values that make up the “Keeping Families Together” campaign. Together we can Keep Families Together and pass comprehensive Immigration reform in 2013 that includes a path to citizenship.