An ordinary immigrant, living in fear

The woman sat in a chair and unzipped the plastic document folder she had pulled from her backpack. She was there — inside the office of Veronica B. Guinto, an Oakland immigration attorney — to build a case for asylum so that she will not have to return to her native Guatemala. She was referred to Guinto by the International Institute of the Bay Area, a nonprofit specializing in immigration legal services. Since January, Guinto has seen an increase in people inquiring about paths to citizenship and, simply, asking how to avoid being deported.

I was allowed to sit in on the consultation because I agreed not to use the woman’s name or print any information — where she lives, where she works — that could identify her.

To me, she looked like a regular Bay Area mom. Her dark hair was in a ponytail. She wore New Balance sneakers, black yoga pants and a hoodie with the logo of a San Francisco startup.

She’s someone I’d pass on the street without thinking about what she might be going through. But it was clear when she spoke that everything in her body ached because of the uncertainty of her situation.

She was concerned about her upcoming check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, required for immigrants without docu-

mentation who aren’t a deportation priority.

She arrived in the United States in September, accompanied by her two children, a boy and a girl. Her home country in Central America is known for its volcanoes and Mayan ruins. She’s 32, and her husband arrived in the United States in October 2015. He came to work, and he sent money back home.

She crossed the Mexican border near Hidalgo, a small town in southern Texas. That’s where she was detained by U.S. immigration officers. She was put in a holding cell referred to as a “freezer” because of the teeth-rattling cold temperature.

The sweaters the family wore when they crossed were taken from them. And she said there were as many as 50 other women and children shivering in the room with her, sitting with their knees to their chests.

The family was then taken to an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, a four-hour drive north from Hidalgo. For almost two weeks, they lived in a trailer with four other families.

At some point, she was let go and allowed to remain in the U.S. so long as she agreed to regularly meet with immigration officers.

Guinto isn’t exactly sure why the woman and her children were allowed to reunite with her husband instead of being returned to Guatemala.

The woman said she left Guatemala because she received a message demanding 30,000 quetzales, the nation’s currency — about $4,100.

She was told a cell phone would subsequently be provided for delivery instructions. She was warned not to go to police, because the extortionists knew where her children went to school.

This is usual, she told Guinto. The teens in many parts of Guatemala are poor, bored and lacking opportunities to make money. When a man approached her children at their school, she didn’t call police because, she said, officers provide protection for anyone if bribed. Her husband told her to come to California.

Now the woman wants to seek asylum, but the rules are strict, Guinto tells her. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, asylum seekers need to prove they’ve been persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

Guinto told her that she needs to research her case and that she’ll get back to her in a week.

The woman said she watches the news, and that’s why she’s worried about the current administration’s plans for tougher immigration enforcement. She asked Guinto if she should go to her scheduled checkin with ICE.

“It’s possible ICE can detain you, but you don’t have much of a choice but to go in,” Guinto told her. “If you don’t show, it’ll be worse.”

Her eyes darted between Guinto and Elizabeth Myers, Guinto’s paralegal, who interpreted the woman’s Spanish. She then asked Guinto if she had another option besides asylum.

“Based on what I see, I don’t think so,” Guinto responded.

The woman’s lips quivered. She said she wants the best for her children, who suffered during their rough trek through Mexico. Guinto passed her the box of tissues.

“If it’s in your hands that you can help me, I would be grateful,” the woman said through Myers.

The woman said she would pray for the best.