With only her face and neck poking above the dais, a 13-year-old girl Wednesday talked about how the deportation of her bread-winning father to Guatemala tore asunder her family.

``I know our lives wouldn't have been like this had our dad not been deported,'' said Ashley Guerra, of Sweetwater, citing the loss of her parents' home. ``They deported him because he didn't have his papers, but I don't think that's a good reason.''

Ashley's first-hand testimony about the effects of immigration policy on her family was delivered Wednesday at Miami-Dade County Hall as local leaders and immigrant advocates gathered to study a proposal that aims to articulate a single county position on federal immigration reform.

Noting Miami-Dade's many foreign-born residents, the county's Community Relations Board is seeking to build a consensus on immigration topics that have often divided residents.

The CRB will forward its positions to the Miami-Dade County Commission for final approval. The board then expects to send them to Washington, D.C., for consideration.

``Our goal is to unite our diverse communities around agreed-upon priorities for legislative reform that will uphold our common commitment to equal treatment and due process for all immigrants,'' CRB Chairman Harold Vieux told about 40 people.

Some of the topics under discussion include the securing of citizenship, the role of local law enforcement agencies in picking up undocumented immigrants and the reuniting of broken families.

``Under the current administration, comprehensive immigration reform is something that our president, the White House and Congress can deliver,'' said Jean-Robert Lafortune, chairman of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition. ``Immigrants can't live on hope alone.''

Lafortune and others Wednesday reiterated a plea popular in the Haitian community, one that calls for Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haitians.

The designation would allow some 30,000 Haitians in the United States to apply for temporary work permits so they could wire remittances back home.

Among those in the crowd at County Hall was Nasheer Walters, a Jamaica native and entertainer who goes by the stage name eNGee dadon.

Having moved to South Florida three years ago, the 28-year-old Walters supports immigrant rights.