Thread: Miami-Dade mom robbed of life savings

This woman is definitely an illegal alien but the Miami Herald won't say it. I would love to know if she has fake ID or is driving without a license. When will they realize that criminals prey on them as they deal in cash only. There was another woman who had her purse stolen and lost $2,000 in cash she had on her which was from her pay. She was going to use it to pay her bills.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-d ... 60955.html

Posted on Wed, Dec. 02, 2009
Miami-Dade mom robbed of life savings needs help
BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN
mkaufman@MiamiHerald.com


PATRICK FARRELL / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Yesenia Perez Negron is a single mom and a widow of six years. She is struggling to raise her two children, 10-year-old Ricardo and 6-year-old Yadira. Life had already hit rock bottom for Yesenia Negron six years ago when she got a phone call from police informing her that her husband was killed in a car accident on Krome Avenue in Homestead. She was 26 years old at the time, and was left with their 38-day-old daughter, Yadira, their 3-year-old son, Ricardo, and the $20 bill she had in her wallet.
He worked construction, she was home caring for the kids, and they were scraping to get by. They had no savings and no insurance.

With nowhere else to turn, Negron moved into a two-bedroom home with her sister at the South Dade Center, a migrant labor camp near the Homestead Air Reserve Base. She got a part-time job working in the fields and potting plants at a nursery for $7 an hour. Little by little, she got back on her feet, her kids were thriving in school, and six years of $5 and $10 bank deposits had grown to $1,955.

But then on Oct. 14, in a bank parking lot, Negron lost it all. Tired of relying on a neighbor for rides and figuring a car could lead to a better job, Negron decided to put a down payment on a $4,000 used car. She withdrew $1,900 from the bank, leaving just enough to keep the account open. As she left the bank, she was robbed by two men who drove off in a blue mini van.

Negron wept in the parking lot, her life savings gone, her dreams squashed.

The nursery doesn't need her as much in these tough economic times, so she works only a few days a week. She fears she won't be able to cover her $298 rent or her electric and water bills. Her kids, both A students at Mandarin Lakes K-8 School, don't ask for much, but the little they do ask for -- tickets for Santa's Enchanted Forest -- she can't give them. ``I feel like I'm drowning, like I'm in a dark cave I can't climb out of,'' Negron said, tears pouring down her cheeks. ``I try to smile for the kids, but I can't. I want to be strong, but I can't. The kids need and want things, and I can't provide for them. I'm desperate. God made me poor, and I've accepted that I'll stay poor, but I want a better life for my children.

``Every night, when the kids fall asleep, I spend two hours praying to God, asking him not to abandon me, and not to abandon those two precious children.''

Ricardo, a mature boy who just turned 10 and is in the gifted program, can't stand to see his mother cry. ``No llores, Mami, no llores [don't cry, Mami]'' he says, stroking her hair and her arm. ``You'll work again, and we'll have money, and everything will be fine.''

Sitting atop her worn kitchen table is a pill container filled with Zoloft, an anti-depressant.

``I have tried to stop using the medicine, but when I do, I can't stop crying,'' she said. ``I just cry, and cry and cry.''

Negron has considered moving back to Mexico, where she has more family, but her children are adamant about staying here. ``My son says he is American, he is a good student, and he wants to stay here and get a college scholarship,'' Negron said. ``He told me if I go back to Mexico, he'll stay here with a cousin or friend. He wants to make a good life for himself, and I want to help him. That's what's so hard. I can't help my own kids.''

For now, she is getting by on church donations, food stamps and help from the Redlands Christian Migrant Association, which nominated her for The Herald's Wish Book program.

Her most pressing needs are a used car, or significant car repairs for a clunker she has sitting in the yard, a small dinette with four chairs, a washing machine, money to pay rent the next few months, and uniform pants for her son (size 10) and daughter (size .

Raquel Linares works at the Redlands Christian Migrant Association and spends her days helping families with hardships. Negron's story hit her particularly hard.

``She has been through so much, worked so hard, loves those kids so much, and then to have all her savings robbed was just so horrible,'' Linares said. ``She's a single mom, a widow, and was falling into desperation, so we wanted to shed some light into her life. She also has shown amazing faith, despite everything, and I really admire that. Other people would have given up their faith by now. I'm hoping God put some angels on Earth to help her.''

Just posted to comment section:

Just another SOB story. This IA is collecting social services money because of her "Anchor Babies" and I'll bet that she is receiving more than just food stamps. While I pity the poor I reserve my pity for poor Americans. The 14th Amendment never intended the children of IAs be given citizenship. The USA cannot afford to take in all the poor of the world. Anyone helping this family is just encouraging more IAs to come. Let her go back to her family in Mexico along with her kids.

My post was there but now it's gone.

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

My post was there but now it's gone.

I just found this one:

ratbstard wrote on 12/02/2009 12:47:53 PM:
Where did my 1st post go? Let me guess, I advocated for enforcement of our immigration laws and that is considered hate speech.

I like this one as well: Valigator wrote on 12/02/2009 10:41:17 AM:
In as much as I hate to see these incidents happen to anyone..there are many United States Citizens who are in dire need of help in one form or another. To profile a woman and her husband (Deceased) who entered this country illegally and continued to go on and have two children in a major newspaper is a little more than can make me reach into my wallet. Sorry, perhaps it is time for her to go back to Mexico.

Yup, she and her late hubby came here illegally, as the son tells her he is a US citizen.
She was going to make a down payment on a car? What for, since she is not allowed to drive? And how have they both been able to work, with fraudulent IDs?
Figures it is Homestead, as the entire area from Immokalee to Homestead is nothing but illegals who speak absolutely no English.

The Homestead and Florida City are full of illegals. I loved it when FHP had speed traps in those areas. They rounded up and gace ICE plenty of them each time.

I hate to say this but i no longer give to charitys,or food banks.
Because you dont no how much is going to illegals. Its like giving blood The same thing. I Quit doing any of this stuff years ago.