FEMALE NEWSREADER:
In New Jersey over the past three days deaths have doubled—
MALE NEWSREADER:
This morning President Trump officially issuing a major disaster declaration for the Garden State—
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
And now Jersey City is an epicenter for the virus with cases skyrocketing there.
MALE NEWSREADER:
Fatalities in the pandemic’s epicenter will continue to rise.
MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
APRIL 2020
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] They just gave me the news that unfortunately, my mother-in-law tested positive for coronavirus. She’s been in the hospital for three days. And she has no space for us. We have nowhere to go. But we have to leave.
FEMALE VOICE ON PHONE:
[Speaking Spanish] Your call is—
JESUS [on phone]:
Jesus.
FEMALE VOICE ON PHONE:
—[Speaking Spanish] a prisoner detained at the Essex County Correctional Center.
JESUS [on phone]:
Hello.
NORMA:
Hello. [Speaking Spanish] Jesus, right now I’m busy looking for a place to go. I can’t go anywhere because I was exposed to the virus and nobody can take us in. I’m here on the street with the children.
JESUS [on phone]:
If you want, stay put. I’ll try to figure out what is happening.
NORMA:
Bye.
[Speaking Spanish] Without their dad, I don’t know what we’re going to do. I’m trapped in a dead end.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] I came to this country in 2009 looking for a better life for my children than I had in Honduras. My daughter Andrea is 17 years old. Walter, 13. And then I met my husband, Jesus. He came here when he was 16 years old without documents. He was detained in 2011 by ICE. They let him out. He was given permission to work while waiting for his court proceedings. And our daughter Antonela was born. And then my twins, Daniel and David. We were a happy family.
There is love, but there are also arguments. One night in October we had a big fight. My husband came home drunk. I was upset, and he started screaming. And he screamed and screamed. So I said I was going to call the police. And I was going to file a report that he was mistreating me. But I thought they were just going to scare him. I didn’t think they would take it so seriously because he had his work permit.
Jesus was arrested by local police.
A simple assault charge was ultimately dismissed, but ICE detained him on his pending immigration case.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] My mother-in-law tried to help me pay the rent. And then January came and we couldn't pay. We lost everything.
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT
ANTHONY FAUCI, M.D. [on TV]:
There is no impediment to people who are undocumented coming forth for the medical care that they need. We have assurances that that’s the case. I hope that it is.
ANTONELA:
[Speaking Spanish] Mom, we’ve been here for seven days, right?
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] Four.
ANTONELA:
[Speaking Spanish] No, eight.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] Are these your shoes, Walter? Put them away. Can’t you see that we have to leave and it's 12 o’clock?
ANDREA:
[Speaking Spanish] Right now, we’re staying with a friend of my mom’s.
ANDREA, 17
ANDREA:
[Speaking Spanish] It’s tough to be the oldest. Because even though I have responsibility for school, I know I have a responsibility to help care for my siblings.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] Take that out, Andrea.
ANDREA:
[Speaking Spanish] What about this thing, the yellow bag?
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] I’ll bring it.
ANDREA:
All right.
[Speaking Spanish] The difficult thing is that because my dad is not here, the children have been very sad.
ANTONELA:
[Speaking Spanish] I’m tired.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] You’re tired?
ANDREA:
[Speaking Spanish] I try and keep them under control and not have all the stress fall on her. Even if that means the stress falls on me.
WALTER:
[Speaking Spanish] Andrea is suffering from depression.
WALTER, 13
WALTER:
[Speaking Spanish] What affected her most was seeing my mom going through a difficult time. She wasn’t used to seeing my mom so sad. When the pandemic came, it was the latest thing to make things much more difficult.
JESUS
On the phone
JESUS [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] I hope I can get out to be together again. Be nice to your mother.
ANTONELA:
[Speaking Spanish] OK. I love you a lot.
It’s been five months since Jesus was detained.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] Hold on, Andrea is going to talk to you
JESUS [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] How are you?
ANDREA:
[Speaking Spanish] So-so.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] Getting ready for another move. [Laughs]
ANDREA:
[Speaking Spanish] We’re moving all the time. How are you, Jesus?
JESUS [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Worried. And a little sick.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] How long have you been feeling sick with the flu and cough and the body aches? Since when?
JESUS [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] A few days, but I have not made a request [to see the doctor] because they take so long to answer.
FEMALE NEWSREADER:
New data suggests a growing outbreak of coronavirus infections among immigrants in U.S. custody.
MALE NEWSREADER:
So far the government has refused to consider a large-scale release of detainees.
With the virus spreading in facilities around the country, lawyers began suing ICE to release at-risk detainees.
Jesus’ lawyer files a petition for his release.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] My husband says they are scared right now because they said someone in one of
the cells below had been infected. I worry about what could happen to him because he’s locked up. I’m also concerned that, God forbid, I get infected because my children have no one else to go to.
Hi!
Walter, tell him that according to my social worker I’m already registered.
MALE HOTEL DESK MANAGER:
And, do you have a phone number?
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] I have a social worker who is helping us. She was the one who got us this hotel to stay at temporarily.
We're about to go to the room.
MALE HOTEL DESK MANAGER:
It’s room number—
NORMA:
OK.
ANTONELA:
[Speaking Spanish] Here, here, here!
ANDREA:
Mommy!
I’m gonna be here! I wanna be here, thank you, bye.
The last time that I had my own bed was like three months ago.
[Speaking Spanish] I no longer want to go from place to place to place. I don't want that anymore. I hope I can get a little more sleep. And then try to control my depression.
11 DAYS LATER
NORMA:
Hello?
ANDREA [on phone]:
Hello.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] Did they give you medicine?
ANDREA [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Not yet. I haven’t slept at all.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] My daughter Andrea—it was like Sunday that she cut herself. She couldn’t bear the tension and went to the hospital.
ANDREA [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] We’ve been going through so much and it doesn’t get any better. I’m tired.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] Not all of us have a perfect life, Andrea. So what we have to do is learn to live with situations and leave everything to God.
ANDREA [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] All these things that are happening already—I don't know, it’s a lot.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] But soon it will all be in the past. It’s not your fault or anyone else’s.
I would like to be able to see the light of day. Or watch my husband come through that door and say, “Do you want to go for a walk and clear your head?” I want to be able to take a deep breath and just escape this routine. I want, I don't know. I don’t know, I want to—to see the light.
MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY
JESUS’ BROTHER’S BACKYARD
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] How are you feeling?
JESUS
On the phone
JESUS [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] OK, but with the symptoms. Yesterday, in the unit across from us, they tested everyone and there were positives.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] Almost all came back positive?
JESUS [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Yes.
NORMA
[Speaking Spanish] Oh, God.
JESUS [on phone]:
[Speaking Spanish] Now we are the only ones not tested. Well, the lawyers have already done their job. All we can do is wait for a miracle.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] Right, a miracle from God. Miracles still happen.
We're waiting for weeks to see what's gonna happen. The family is falling apart.
Andrea was released from the hospital after 10 days.
ANDREA:
[Speaking Spanish] I believe that nobody deserves to live what we are living. But I think it’s much better when you face the problems together.
TWO WEEKS LATER
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] The lawyer just called. His bond was accepted. But it’s very high, at $25,000. He said, “That’s a lot.”
And I’m happy for the news, but upset because where am I going to get $25,000? I don’t even have money for an apartment.
Jesus was granted the bond but it’s really high. $25,000.
My heart is still hurting. I have no money. I’m not joking, I have no money. I’m surviving right now by the grace of God.
Ask him, “How much do you think you can get so that I can look for the rest?”
We’re trying to figure out if we can borrow from different people. Do you know someone?
Right now my head is exploding. Where am I going to get $25,000?
WALTER:
[Speaking Spanish] My mom is not the kind of person who is ashamed to ask people for help. She’s the strongest person I’ve ever seen. She wants to see us happy. Together as a family.
MAY 8, 2020
Norma was able to borrow $9,000 from friends.
$6,000 from Jesus’ brother.
And $10,000 from a high-interest loan.
NORMA:
[Speaking Spanish] Today we’re going to post bail so that my husband can be released. I feel happy that he is getting out, but at the same time I feel regret because it is going to leave us with that great debt.
Now I have my daughter here, and soon I will also have my husband. I know that my husband and I are not the perfect couple. The journey that comes next will be difficult. But together we can keep moving forward.
JESUS:
Hey!
DANIEL AND DAVID:
[Speaking Spanish] Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!
[Speaking English] We have stuff. This is my dad.
We have stuff for you!
