(Phoenix, Arizona) – Maria Cruz lives in Phoenix, Arizona and is a mother of 3 undocumented young people who are active in community organizing. In 2011 her two children participated in an act of civil disobedience that led to her own involvement in the movement. In 2012 she was one of the riders of the “Undocubus” traveling across the southern United States working with immigrant communities to challenge criminalization of immigrants. Since then, she has been registering voters, working against deportations, and advocating for immigrant rights with a group of immigrant mothers in Phoenix and the organization Puente Movement. She came to Washington DC because the fear of deportation is personal. “I have to fight for the future of my children, and for my future. I know that whenever I am working to support them, I am risking being detained and placed in deportation. I don’t want to be separated from my children, so I am here fighting for my future. The hardest part working against deportations is meeting the families and seeing how the children suffer. Your heart can’t let that pass. The most beautiful thing that I have seen is when a person who was in detention gets out and reunites with their family.”