Kimberly Pineda Chavez, 19, was heading to high school with her younger sister in Atlanta, Ga., when lights flashed behind her car.

Immigration agents pulled her over and arrested her.

The teenager was put in jail, where she began fighting the government's plans to send her back to Honduras, a country with one of the highest murder rates of women in the world.

Her mom had to travel 200 miles to see her daughter in detention. 

“My younger daughter is really affected,” she told a reporter. “She keeps asking ‘when is Kimberly coming back, where’s my sister’ and I still can’t tell her.”

Across the United States, people like Kimberly and her family are at risk.

Armed immigration police who work for ICE are targeting Central American mothers and children. They are banging on doors at all hours, picking up kids as they go to school, and terrorizing entire communities.

These raids are about to get worse, and we need your help to stop them.

Most of the Central American families being targeted came here recently to ask for protection from war-level violence. They are refugees, forced to travel hundreds of miles from their homes to escape rape, violence, and death. Kimberly and her sister fled because gangs were threatening to take them as sexual property.

Instead of being welcomed as refugees in need of help, Central Americans like Kimberly have been met with harsh treatment in jails. Sometimes, they're imprisoned for months on end in remote U.S. detention centers where guards have told mothers that they were not allowed to breastfeed or sleep with their children.

The Obama administration is addressing this humanitarian situation as if it is a law enforcement problem. Because our system is not able to accommodate the swell of need that the crisis in Central America has created, courageous families who haven't had a fair chance to ask for protection are suffering.  

The vast majority of moms facing deportation aren't able to find legal representation. Without it, their failure is all but guaranteed -- nearly 99% who sought protection in recent years were sent back to face the life-threatening conditions they fled. Kids without representation face similar odds.

By conducting raids against these asylum-seekers, our administration is:

• Deporting mothers and children to conflict-torn Central America where they will likely suffer severe violence, rape, and even death.
• Sending shock waves through immigrant communities, scaring women from calling 911 when they face domestic violence, keeping kids home from school, and preventing families from getting the vaccinations and medical care they need.
• Perpetuating a system that treats refugees worse than criminals and tarnishes our rich tradition of welcoming those fleeing persecution.

Don’t let this happen any longer! Tell President Obama that you demand fairness for all refugees, including Central Americans.

Please sign this petition to urge our president to stop these raids before more harm is done.

#RefugeesWelcome

Please note that photo does not depict Kimberly.