Community members numbering around 100 convened in front of Lake Worth Beach City Hall on Monday night, holding a vigil for the children affected by the recent ICE arrests that have seen their parents taken away. One high school student, Sophia Rodriguez, spoke at the event about the pain of her father’s deportation after nearly three decades in the U.S. She told WPBF, “At the end of the day, I’m still a kid. And there’s a lot of kids still affected by it.”
In what was described as an emotionally charged evening, attendees lit candles and some laid flowers, while others held signs protesting ICE’s actions. One of the teenagers present, referred to as Sindia, expressed a chilling fear that children should not have to encounter, as reported in the same WPBF piece, “A 5-year-old shouldn’t be afraid to go out and come home to a busted door that was knocked down, screaming for their parents just for their cries to be ignored.”
This gathering was not just a demonstration of shared grief but also an act of solidarity. According to Mariana Blanco of the Guatemalan Maya Center, a significant number of children in Lake Worth Beach alone have been left without one or both parents due to ICE arrests. As detailed by WFLX, among the crowd were students like 16-year-old Davey, who is constantly haunted by the possibility of losing her parents to sudden enforcement actions…