You can hear the sound when she cries — as if she wants it to shatter and echo to the four winds, yet at the same time bury it deep inside herself so no one in the apartment hallways can hear.
That is the reality for Ofelia: mother of a son and daughter, a single mom with absent parents, a survivor of domestic violence, undocumented because of a mistake she once made, and confined to her home most days out of fear that ICE could detain her.
“I’d rather stay here at home and go out as little as possible. I don’t want to lose my children. They were born here. If I get arrested, I could lose them,” she says.
Ofelia is one of thousands of mothers — many of them single — who have been hit hardest by Trump-era immigration policies.
Under the “Zero Tolerance” approach revived by the Trump administration, an estimated 3,000 mothers were directly arrested during the first seven months of 2025 alone. During Trump’s first term, more than 5,500 children were separated from their families, with mothers often becoming the face of viral and highly publicized immigration raids.
In the first seven months of 2025, authorities arrested 18,400 parents, including 3,000 mothers. Beyond physical separation, the policies have left many women exposed to extreme vulnerability.
For Ofelia, that vulnerability began long before immigration raids intensified. The father of her 13-year-old daughter physically abused her, forcing her to seek refuge in a shelter to protect herself and her children. Though she eventually escaped and tried to rebuild her life, the scars remain — trauma, isolation, strained relationships and difficulty finding work.
Then came Trump’s crackdown and the raids. Going outside stopped being routine and became an act of survival.
“My life starts every day when the sun comes up,” she says. “I have to think about how to get food and the things we need. Sometimes Vanny Arias from Nela Distribution Center helps me. Other times a nearby church does. That’s how I survive. If I get the chance to clean a house, I do it and earn a few dollars. But I can’t sell food on the street because I’m afraid of being arrested. After everything life has done to me, all I have are my children. I can’t risk being deported. They were born here and they have a future ahead of them.”
Her son recently turned 21 and completed training to work as a security guard. She hopes things will improve once he lands a full-time job. For now, the family survives largely on government assistance tied to her daughter, which barely covers rent and basic expenses.
“The situation for these mothers is extremely difficult,” says Vanny. “If life is already hard for immigrant families in general, imagine what it’s like for single mothers. At Nela, we have about eight women in the same situation. We try to help however we can, but it’s not enough.”
Ofelia’s social circle has become painfully small.
“I only go out to get food, take my daughter to school and come back. I try not to talk or share my problems.”
Still, she says she has learned to rely on community resources to keep her family from falling apart.
“It was very hard keeping my son away from gangs and drugs,” she says. “I had to educate myself and take him to youth programs run by the sheriff’s department, where they show kids what happens if they get into trouble. The church and community centers also helped me keep my children disciplined. They’re good kids. I tell them I can’t buy them expensive clothes or the best things, and they understand. My son saw the violence I suffered and understands what we’ve been through.”
In past years, Mother’s Day celebrations were impossible to afford. The family would simply go to a park and spend the day together.
This year, she says, will be different.
“It’ll be the first year we celebrate another way. Some friends invited us to their house, and we’ll spend the day with them,” she says with a smile.
Vanny Arias is also making sure the day does not pass unnoticed.
“We’re going to buy flowers and bring them to her,” she says. “After so many blows, even a small ray of light matters.”
