WASHINGTON, DC — FWD.us is launching a new ad as part of its 7-figure national campaign to promote citizenship legislation. The new ad, Family Story, features the Juarez family, a mixed-status family that was torn apart by the mother’s devastating deportation in 2018 and reunited by the Biden administration on Mother’s Day weekend. The ad is launching on Wednesday, May 12, and will appear on cable, broadcast and digital platforms.
Alejandra Juarez was deported from the United States in August 2018 after building a life and family in the Orlando area for nearly 20 years. She is a military wife to Sgt. Temo Juarez, a combat veteran who served three tours of duty overseas, and together they raised their two U.S.-born daughters, Pamela and Estela, in Davenport, Florida.
The separation of Alejandra’s family is a result of our long broken immigration system. Nearly 6 million U.S. citizens live with an immediate family member who is undocumented, which means there are millions of families across the country at risk of being separated unless Congress passes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
“It has been heartwarming and emotional to see the first few families reunited by the Biden administration in recent days. Alejandra is the wife of a U.S. combat veteran, the mother of two American-born daughters, and a 20-year resident of Orlando. None of those ties kept her from being torn away from her life and family, and deported to a country she hadn’t visited in decades,” said Leezia Dhalla, Press Director at FWD.us. “We can be grateful to the Biden administration and all those who helped reunite the Juarez family while still acknowledging that thousands of families are still being kept apart — and millions more continue to live under the daily threat of deportation. The only way to stop these heartwrenching separations from happening in the future is for Congress to urgently pass meaningful legislation with a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.”
The reunification of Alejandra Juarez with her family has already received widespread coverage, but this is just one family and many more remain separated:
- Orlando Sentinel: Deported under Trump, Alejandra Juarez returns to Orlando through temporary pass from Biden administration
- The Guardian: A mother’s happy day: military spouse deported by Trump returns to family
- Spectrum News Orlando: Alejandra Juarez, deported wife of Iraq War vet, returns to U.S.
- WKMG-TV (CBS-Orlando, FL): Mother reunited with family in Orlando after being deported for 3 years
- WOGX-TV (Fox-Gainesville, FL): Deported mom reunites with family in time for Mother's Day
- WESH-TV (NBC-Orlando, FL): US Marine's wife deported years ago is now on her way back to her family
- Mitú: Three Years After Traumatic Deportation, Alejandra Juarez Will Be Reunited With Her Family