Voices

Your voices are our community. We publish selected stories annonymously about “why Compassion Forward is important now?” Submissions refrain from targeting individuals or being overtly political. Stories should focus on issues of concern in our communities regardless of where you are from, what political party you belong to, or what your background is.

Killings Leave Families Broken

Compassion Forward extends our heartfelt feelings of compassion and our deepest sympathies to the friends and family of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Ruben Ray Martinez, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, and dozens more killed recently by the United States Government.

Renee was a mother of three children and was loved in her community. Killed in her car unarmed and posing no threat to anyone. Her last words to the ICE agents were, “I’m not mad at you.”

Alex was an ICU nurse who cared for our military Veterans. Alex was trying to help a women who was knocked. His last words were “are you okay?”

Lorenzo wasa father of three. lived in the U.S. for 35 years and had no criminal record. He was taking his work crew to a job site in his van when the incident occurred.

Johan worked as a delivery driver and lived with his wife their 3-year-old daughter. He was killed in front of his 3 year-old daughter.

Ruben Killed by ICE in March a traffic stop. He was 23 years old, a quiet, funny and gentle young man — and an unarmed United States citizen.

  • From the NY Times:

    The morning her father called to say that he had been detained on a snowy Minneapolis road, Xochitl Soberanes was seized by an urgent and inescapable feeling. At 16 years old and the eldest of four, she would suddenly have to become the backbone of the family.

    Their mother had died of pneumonia less than a year ago, so it was Xochitl who convinced her 4-year-old brother that their father was working late as they packed up belongings to go stay with a nearby aunt. That January night, a cousin found all four siblings curled up asleep in the same queen bed — cradled by Xochitl, who lay on the edge.

    “We just wanted to be close together,” she said.

  • Aliya Rahman was dragged from her car while driving to the Dr. She is in the US legally. She is disabled, she was abused by federal agents.

  • Kaden Rummler was shot in the eye and almost killed by federal agents while protesting the killing of Renee Good in Orange County.

    Kaden is now permanently blind in one eye.

  • George Retes, a U.S. citizen and Iraq War veteran, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies for three days and three nights. During that time, he was denied access to an attorney, was not allowed to make a phone call, was not presented to a judge, and was put in an isolation cell. He missed his daughter’s third birthday. He was never charged with a crime.

  • Amy Lucia Lopez Belloza, a Babson College freshman was deported to Honduras while on her way home to surprise her parents in Texas for Thanksgiving.

    Amy was handcuffed and shackled and treated like a criminal.

    She was working on a business degree with dreams of a better lilfe.

  • This story was published in the NY Times on Nov 16th In an article titled: "In the Pulpits and Pews, Catholic Churches Urge Compassion for Immigrants.” By, Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

    The man came from Cuba more than 40 years ago, started a business and raised a family. But he had gotten into some minor legal trouble in the 1980s. And this year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement came for him. He had to close his business, lay off his workers, and leave the country

  • I know people who are afraid to go outside and afraid to go to work. They are good hardworking people, but they don’t look like the people in power. Masked federal agents are accosting people on the streets simply because of the color of their skin. These agents are knocking down doors and breaking windows to snatch people (even in front of their children). This is not the America we love. These people came here to build a better life for their family and to help build a stronger America.