“I was very sad,” she said through an interpreter. “It was really uncomfortable. I was thinking more about my children than myself.”

Now, she said, she prays her oldest son will be able to come back to her.

Madrid, 25, has lived in Flagstaff most of his life. He made a name for himself as an activist, fighting for LGBT and immigrant rights with local groups including Flagstaff Pride, Arizona Dreamers in Action and the Northern Arizona Interfaith Council.

“Even though I’ve always felt like less than a lot of other people (because of my immigration status), I’ve still always felt American,” Madrid said. “I felt that since I couldn’t vote, I couldn’t be involved in the traditional sense of the political process, I had to make up for it.”

Madrid realized he loved helping people and his community early on when he joined the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association’s I AM Youth Group and later became a youth mentor. At age 16, he began working as a hospice care provider.

“Everything he did for (the patients) he did with great caring and great love,” his mother said.

Meanwhile, he campaigned for current Flagstaff City Council members Coral Evans, Celia Barotz and Eva Putzova, and U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, among others.