“If my wife is not here everything will fall apart” he said, the naturalized U.S. citizen who escaped torture in his country and is now fighting against the forced return of his wife, the mother of their young children, to their country of origin. As a psychotherapist working with refugee, immigrant, and indigent families in community mental health I listen to stories like this every day. Stories of families being torn apart by heartless enforcement of immigration laws, stories of young people who are turned off and angry because of warehouse educational facilities and dangerous neighborhoods, stories of abused women who are more afraid of the police and social services than their abusive partners.