It started out as a news conference by children to announce their participation in a planned demonstration in front of the White House next month to demand a halt to deportations of undocumented immigrants.
But the press briefing quickly turned into a highly emotional event with several children breaking down in tears as they described how their parents had been detained, deported or continued to live in fear of imminent immigration detention.
The more than two dozen children who gathered Thursday at the home of immigration activist Nora Sándigo in South Miami-Dade plan to travel to Washington to take part in a July 28 ``kids demonstration'' in front of the White House to demand that President Barack Obama sign an executive order suspending deportations of undocumented immigrants.
``I want to tell President Obama to leave my family alone, to not touch my family, to not detain my father or mother,'' said a 7-year-old girl who identified herself only as Ashley. Then as a reporter asked what she would tell Obama, Ashley began crying inconsolably in front of the television cameras.
One child who put on a brave face was Nicole Calvo, whose Costa Rican father was detained by immigration authorities at one point.
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