MIAMI — Miami city leaders discussed the 287-G program Thursday, which gives local police the authority to enforce immigration law. No decision was made. But for some South Florida families, the impact of that authority is already being felt.

At Miami International Airport, Jose grips his two boys’ hands on the way to the gate. He’s sending his 3-year-old, Ethan, and 6-year-old, Abel, to stay with family while he stays behind to work.

“I go out to work with the fear that one day the same thing could happen to me,” he said.

He doesn’t want his boys going through what happened to 3-year-old Christina. She was with her babysitter when her mom, then her dad, were detained and later deported — leaving the toddler alone.

She’s not the only one.

Volunteers with South Florida’s Guatemalan-Maya Center have been organizing flights to reunite children with loved ones in Guatemala. As detentions and deportations spiked in South Florida, the calls about children being left alone kept coming.

“They’re leaving the only country they’ve ever known and they’re flying without their parents,” one volunteer said.

“A lot of this is happening because of 287-G that our local officials signed,” another added.

The youngest in the group is Angel. He’s one. His grandmother, Magdalena, a cleaning lady whose husband was deported, came to the airport to self-deport — and helped keep an eye on Jose’s kids as he said his goodbyes.

“They’re my life,” he said.

The Guatemalan-Maya Center is covering the cost of these flights through public donations. So far, children have been flown to Guatemala, Colombia, and El Salvador.

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