Wendy Ortiz was surprised to find out she was being fined by U.S. immigration authorities for being in the country illegally — but it was the amount that truly shocked her: $1.8 million.
Ortiz, 32, who earns $13 an hour in her job at a meatpacking plant in Pennsylvania, has lived in the United States for a decade, after fleeing El Salvador to escape a violent ex-partner and gang threats, she said in an interview and in immigration paperwork. Her salary barely covers rent and expenses for her autistic 6-year-old U.S.-citizen son.
"It’s not fair,” she said. "Where is someone going to find that much money?”
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