#Somos
Del
Camino
A place for Central Americans to be heard, helped, and held.
Un lugar para ser escuchados, apoyados, y acompañados.
"Llegué un martes en noviembre. Tenía el número de un primo que nunca contestó, y una bolsa con dos mudas de ropa."
— Rosa Amelia Fuentes, Fundadora · San Salvador, El Salvador
2019
Fundado
No había nadie en esa sala de espera que hablara español. El formulario tenía doce páginas. Yo tenía miedo de preguntar en voz alta porque no sabía si era seguro.
Three years later, Rosa Amelia spread the word through a WhatsApp group — six people showed up to a church basement in Langley Park, Maryland. Someone brought curtido. Someone else brought a list of immigration lawyers who spoke Spanish. By the second meeting, there were fourteen people. By the fifth, a mother from Tegucigalpa had her TPS renewal filed.
The circle grew not because it was organized, but because the need was real and the welcome was genuine. Word traveled the way it does in communities — through cousins, through church, through the woman at the laundromat who noticed someone filling out a form wrong.
Abrazo now gathers every Thursday evening. The folding chairs are still there. So is the curtido. What has grown is the network — 47 families connected to legal representation, hundreds of TPS and asylum consultations, and a Garifuna language interpretation program started by a 17-year-old named Derrick who kept translating for his grandmother.
47
Families with legal representation
340+
Asylum & TPS consultations
5
Years of Thursday gatherings
What happens when the chairs fill up
Lo que pasa cuando se llenan las sillas
"Every Thursday, someone finds out they have options they didn't know existed."
The Circle · Langley Park, MD
Curtido, platanos,
and someone's abuela's recipe
While parents talk to lawyers, children draw maps of where they came from.
The walls are covered in their art.
Every meeting has at least one paralegal or immigration attorney present — pro bono, no exceptions.
12 partner attorneys
Phone numbers exchanged. Appointments made. No one leaves alone.
Spanish, Garifuna, Q'eqchi', and English. Every voice finds a way to be understood.
4 languages spoken
In their own words
En sus propias palabras
Marisol Aguilar
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
"Yo llegué sin saber qué era TPS. Después de dos jueves en Abrazo, tenía abogada y mi caso estaba en proceso. Lloraba en el carro de regreso — pero esta vez de alivio."
"I arrived not knowing what TPS was. After two Thursdays at Abrazo, I had a lawyer and my case was in process. I cried in the car on the way home — but this time from relief."
Derrick Castillo
Comunidad Garífuna · Nueva Orleans
"Mi abuela no habla inglés. Yo tenía 16 años y estaba traduciendo contratos de arrendamiento, formularios médicos, todo. En Abrazo encontré adultos que me ayudaron a ayudarla mejor."
"My grandmother doesn't speak English. I was 16 and translating lease contracts, medical forms, everything. At Abrazo I found adults who helped me help her better."
Carlos Mendoza
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
"Hay cosas del camino que no le cuento a mi familia para no preocuparlos. En el círculo encontré personas que entienden sin que yo tenga que explicar todo."
"There are things from the road I don't tell my family so as not to worry them. In the circle I found people who understand without me having to explain everything."
Esperanza Ruiz
Managua, Nicaragua
"La primera vez que vine, no dije nada. Solo escuché. Eso también era bienvenido aquí."
"The first time I came, I didn't say anything. I just listened. That was also welcome here."
Patricia Sánchez
San Miguel, El Salvador · Voluntaria
"Vine a dar, pero recibí más. Hay algo en esa sala de los jueves que me recuerda quién soy cuando el mundo de afuera me hace dudar."
"I came to give, but I received more. There is something in that Thursday room that reminds me who I am when the outside world makes me doubt."
Doña Antonia Morales
La Ceiba, Honduras
"Mi hijo tradujo para mí las primeras tres veces. Ahora yo ayudo a otras mamás que llegan nuevas. El círculo se cierra así."
"My son translated for me the first three times. Now I help other mothers who arrive new. The circle closes like that."
"The circle is never closed.
There is always room for one more chair."
— Rosa Amelia Fuentes · Fundadora
The cafecito is
almost ready.
El cafecito ya casi está listo.
Whether you arrived last week or twenty years ago. Whether you need help or want to give it. Whether you speak Spanish, Garifuna, Q'eqchi', or just a little of each — there is a chair with your name on it.
Seas recién llegado o lleves veinte años. Necesites ayuda o quieras darla. Hables español, garífuna, q'eqchi', o un poco de todo — hay una silla con tu nombre.
Join the Circle · No forms on this page
Cuándo · When
Jueves · Thursdays, 7pm
Dónde · Where
Langley Park, Maryland
Quiénes · Who
All are welcome · Todos