UPDATE!!!!! After an agonizing week of uncertainty, Tonny has been released and is finally home with Silvia and his family! There are no words to adequately describe what this moment means to them- or to all of us who have been fighting alongside them. Tonny and Silvia want to express their deepest, most heartfelt gratitude to every single person who showed up for their family: everyone who donated, wrote letters, made calls, shared their story, offered prayers, sent food and refused to let them face this alone. What happened this week was a powerful reminder that community matters. When people come together with compassion, courage, and determination, we can move mountains. To everyone who stood with Tonny: thank you. You helped bring a husband, a father, and a beloved member of his community home to his family. Together, we are stronger than the forces that seek to divide us. And this week, you proved the extraordinary power of a community that refuses to give up on one of its own. From the bottom of our hearts: THANK YOU. On Friday, August 7, Tonny Quesada-Ramirez was abducted by ICE from the streets of South Orange, leaving behind his wife, Silvia, and their two sons. Tonny was the sole provider for his family, including their eldest son, who has Down syndrome. Brought to the U.S. from Costa Rica as a child nearly three decades ago, Tonny has spent his life working, paying taxes, raising his family, and tirelessly providing for those he loves. He even spent thousands of dollars pursuing citizenship, only to have that process stalled under the current administration. Now Tonny is being held at Delaney Hall in Newark, and Silvia and the boys are suddenly without the husband and father they depend on. Our community has already come together to help fund the legal fight to bring Tonny home. Now we’re coming together to make sure his family has food on the table and the basic necessities they need to get through this devastating time. No family should have to worry about their next meal while fighting to bring their husband and father home. Please help us surround the Quesada family with the love, care, and support.
Silvia has asked us to convery this message: "I would like you to tell all the people helping us—if you can—a huge thank you; may God bless them and reward them twofold for their generosity. Truly, a thousand blessings to everyone. Thank you". Silvia & her sons enjoy cheese and pepperoni pizza, pasta, Chinese chicken w/ broccoli, chicken wings & salads! As for groceries they'd appreciate milk, eggs, sandwich bread, chicken thighs, steak, corn tortillas, shredded mozzarella, seltzer, & Honest Kids juice boxes. As for fruit, her children like tangerines, bananas, and grapes. Frozen pizza, salad, cucumber, and lemons, would be wonderful, too. And we'd like to thank this great SOMA community and all the other people who are coming together to help Tonny and his family! - Lauren & Shuly