{"id":218485,"date":"2026-04-04T09:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T09:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/218485\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T09:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T09:16:10","slug":"venezuelan-mother-stranded-in-miami-gets-faith-based-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/218485\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuelan mother stranded in Miami gets faith-based help"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Yelitza<\/p>\n

Yelitza Perez, 29, center, and her daughters, Paola, 9, left, and Itchel, 1, right, are stuck in Miami after facing difficulties self-deporting back to Venezuela. The family is relying on the kindness of local nonprofits and religious organizations for food, shelter and other essentials as they live day-to-day in a motel near the Miami International Airport.<\/p>\n

Carl Juste<\/p>\n

cjuste@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

\"Yelitza Yelitza Perez, 29 (center) and her daughters, Paola, 9 (left) and Itchel, 1 (right) are stuck in Miami after facing difficulties self-deporting back to Venezuela. The family is relying on local religious organizations for food, shelter and other essentials as they live day-to-day in a motel near the Miami International Airport. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

When Yelitza Perez arrived at the Miami International Airport earlier this month she thought she had done everything right.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old mother of two was trying to return to Venezuela from St. Louis, Missouri, with her children after her husband was deported, but was blocked from boarding her flight after the airline couldn\u2019t verify her travel documentation, she said. Perez had obtained a salvoconducto or \u201csafe pass\u201d which authorizes one-time travel to the country for those without a passport. She ended up stranded at the airport for three days with little money and nowhere to go.<\/p>\n

The Perez family came to the U.S. nearly five years ago seeking asylum and had started building new lives while seeking a pathway to legal citizenship. After seeing the aggressive crackdown on immigrants, Perez said she was planning on leaving voluntarily even before her husband got deported.<\/p>\n

Perez and her two young daughters \u2014 Paola, 9, and Itchel, 1, \u2014 are now left in a vulnerable state, stuck in limbo as they try to navigate how to get back home. With no family nearby, Perez and her kids found assistance from a loose coalition of nonprofits, many of which are faith-based, that have helped cover a motel room near the airport, as well as food, diapers and other essentials for over three weeks as she waits for her document to get verified.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had my dream to return to Venezuela to see my family,\u201d Perez said in Spanish. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy being here with no one, no family, nothing. Without support.\u201d Perez said she\u2019s thankful for those who have helped her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where I\u2019d be without them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Yelitza Yelitza Perez, 29, right, gets emotional as she discusses her hope to return to Venezuela next to her daughter Paola, 9. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Perez\u2019s situation highlights a growing, largely informal safety net of faith-based organizations that\u2019s emerging across the country to support immigrants as the Trump administration enacted far-reaching immigration reform and deportation enforcement. And in South Florida groups have stepped in to support migrants navigating complicated immigration processes, from deportation to self-deportation, often filling gaps left by government systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just want to go home,\u201d said Narciso Mu\u00f1oz, founder and president of Hermanos de la Calle, or Brothers of the Street, one of the organizations helping Perez. Mu\u00f1oz said he has been contacting local officials to help sort out the self-deportation issue with Venezuela.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody says they are going to do something but nothing happens,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can\u2019t leave them on the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holy Week sparks faith-based activism<\/p>\n

As Christians prepare to celebrate Easter on Sunday, some have developed a heightened awareness around helping those living in the margins of society.<\/p>\n

Ellie Hidalgo of the organization Discerning Deacons \u2014 one of the groups that\u2019s been helping Perez\u2019s family since her husband\u2019s deportation \u2014 said Holy Week is a fitting time to \u201crenew her faith.\u201d For her, that means finding the courage to stand with immigrant groups in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s very clear that [Perez] and her daughters are loved by God, and we want her to know and feel in a tangible way that she\u2019s not alone in this ordeal,\u201d Hidalgo said.<\/p>\n

\"Yelitza Narciso Mu\u00f1oz, the founder and president of Hermanos de la Calle (Brothers of the street), with Yelitza Perez and her two daughters outside the motel room the family is staying as they wait to return to Venezuela. Hermanos de la Calle and several other organizations are helping the family with housing, food and legal help. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Discerning Deacons has been working with Hermanos de la Calle, a nonprofit that started out of Mu\u00f1oz\u2019s desire to show his children that being a Christian means more than just attending weekly mass. The group typically helps connect Miami\u2019s homeless population with affordable housing and employment, but lately it has been turning its attention to migrant families.<\/p>\n

Hermanos has rented 26 rooms at a motel by the airport to help homeless and migrant families; several, like Perez, were turned away at the airport after trying to self-deport.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re in this situation, it\u2019s super tough, especially when you are with small kids and a single mom,\u201d Mu\u00f1oz said.<\/p>\n

For Christians, Easter marks the end of Lent, a season meant for deepening one\u2019s faith through prayer, fasting and helping those in need. On Holy Thursday, Christians commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus Christ where he infamously washed his disciples\u2019 feet and gave a commandment to love and serve one another. Hidalgo said many Christians are feeling that call when it comes to the issue of immigration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re called to always see the face of Jesus in the marginalized because of Jesus\u2019s own experience of being treated so horribly,\u201d Hidalgo said. \u201cThis is a time when people of faith stand for the human dignity of all people, and try to alleviate suffering … and let our immigrant brothers and sisters know that they\u2019re not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helping the stranger<\/p>\n

For many Christian groups, immigration has become a focus of faith-based activism, often invoking the words of Jesus: \u201cI was a stranger and you welcomed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, who is the first American-born pope in history, has been a vocal supporter of immigrants\u2019 rights and has openly condemned the treatment of migrants in the United States.<\/p>\n

President Trump\u2019s crackdown on the country\u2019s migrant population and aggressive deportation tactics have led to protests, prayer gatherings and community events held outside immigration detention centers and churches in solidarity with immigrants.<\/p>\n

\"Itchel Itchel Perez, 1, right, plays with her sister, Paola, left, while holding her mother’s hand. The family of three is staying temporary in a Miami motel after facing difficulties self-deporting back to Venezuela. Local religious organizations have stepped in to provide food, shelter and other essentials. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

Locally, Latino Pentecostal and Evangelical faith leaders led a prayer gathering on Saturday at the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami as a part of a national campaign<\/a> to \u201cto pray for immigrant families impacted by detention and separation,\u201d during Holy Week.<\/p>\n

And for eight months, faith leaders and various immigrant rights groups have been gathering for a prayer vigil outside the gates of Alligator Alcatraz to demand the detention camp be shut down, drawing attention to what organizers call a \u201ccruel and inhumane immigration crackdown.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for Perez and others at the motel, the organizations have assembled a spontaneous network of like-minded people that have created a village of care. The organizations have different goals but have figured out how to work together, pulling resources to help one mother in need.<\/p>\n

In St. Louis, for example, a lay Catholic organization called St. Vincent de Paul helped Perez pay her rent after her husband was deported.<\/p>\n

When Perez got to Miami, volunteers from Discerning Deacons, a national group that advocates for women\u2019s roles in the Catholic Church, pooled money to help Perez buy groceries, diapers, milk for her one-year-old daughter and the costs of obtaining the document she needed to travel. The group then alerted Hermanos de la Calle to help with housing.<\/p>\n

In addition, volunteers from Catholic Legal Services brought the girls toys donated from the Miramar Circle of Protection \u2014 an interfaith organization anchored by AFSC\/Quakers \u2014 and drove them to the library one day. Volunteers from Instituto Jesuita Pedro Arrupe provided Perez with more money for her food costs and helped with her phone bill.<\/p>\n

\"Itchel Itchel Perez, 1, right, plays with her big sister at the edge of motel bed. Her mother, Yelitza, is stuck in Miami after facing difficulties self-deporting back to Venezuela. The family is relying on religious organizations for food, shelter and other essentials as they live day-to-day in a motel near the Miami International Airport. Carl Juste cjuste@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

The groups have given Perez the much-needed boost to keep pushing to get her family home, but it still hasn\u2019t been easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing is, even though you feel very frustrated and very alone, you have to try to stay calm, because if I despair, what am I going to do? It won\u2019t solve anything,\u201d Perez said in Spanish.<\/p>\n

Perez hopes to resolve the issue with her document by April 10, when she has re-booked her flight. Due to Holy Week, people in Venezuela are not working, and many places are closed, according to Perez.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Perez is praying for an Easter miracle.<\/p>\n

This story was produced with financial support<\/a> from Trish and Dan Bell and donors in South Florida\u2019s Jewish and Muslim communities, including Khalid and Diana Mirza and the Mohsin and Fauzia Jaffer Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yelitza Perez, 29, center, and her daughters, Paola, 9, left, and Itchel, 1, right, are stuck in Miami…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-218485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}