(Sept. 10, 2026) – The event offers an evening of art, advocacy, and community connection to learn how harmful immigration enforcement practices impact all Austin residents.
Media Contact: John Henry, jhenry@childrensdefense.org, CDF Media Relations Manager, 708-646-7679
AUSTIN, TX— On Thursday, Children’s Defense Fund-Texas (CDF-TX) and The Immigrant Services Network of Austin (ISNA), a workgroup of diverse community stakeholders and immigrant service providers, will hold a community meeting to discuss how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) kidnappings, detentions, and deportations are affecting Austin children and families.
The “Free Families” event will include presentations from organizers, advocates, and impacted individuals on how state-sponsored violence and anti-immigrant policies have affected daily life in Central Texas. Attendees will also have opportunities to participate in an art-as-advocacy campaign and connect with local organizations to find ways to engage through volunteering, mutual aid, and advocacy.
CDF-TX Senior Administrator of Policy and Advocacy Trudy Taylor Smith, Esq. said the Free Families event will serve as an opportunity for Austin residents to learn about the current threats facing immigrants and their families and explore how they can take meaningful action to support their immigrant neighbors.
What: Free Families
When: Thursday, September 10, 2026 | 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Where: SAFE Alliance, 4800 Manor Road, Building B | Austin, TX 78723
Who: Children’s Defense Fund–Texas and The Immigrant Services Network of Austin
“Every child in America deserves to grow up with dignity, hope, and joy,” Taylor Smith said. “Yet hundreds of thousands of young people across Texas are living in constant fear because so-called immigration ‘enforcement’ threatens to separate them from their families, lock them up in detention facilities where they are systematically abused and neglected, and deport them to countries where their lives are at risk. Through this event, our goal is to provide Austin residents with a clear understanding of how these cruel policies impact local communities, and to equip them with the relationships, information, and tools they need to support their immigrant neighbors.”
Since President Trump’s second term began, more than 6,200 children have been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while the parents of more than 146,000 U.S. citizen children have been detained across America. Hundreds of families have been detained at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, where young people and their parents are denied adequate food, clean drinking water, and medical care.
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About Children’s Defense Fund
Founded in 1973, Children’s Defense Fund envisions a nation where marginalized children flourish, leaders prioritize their well-being, and communities wield the power to ensure they thrive. The only national, multi-issue advocacy organization working at the intersection of child well-being and racial justice, CDF advances the well-being of America’s most diverse generation, the 74 million children and youth under the age of 18 and 30 million young adults under the age of 25. CDF’s grassroots movements in marginalized communities build power for child-centered public policy, informed by racial equity and the lived experience of children and youth. Its renowned CDF Freedom Schools® program is conducted in nearly 100 cities across 30 states and territories. Learn more at www.childrensdefense.org.