Until She Comes Home Hours of packing clothes and belongings into their U-Haul van, from 8 am until 2 o'clock, Adrian, Kimberly, and Omar rest on their mothers bed still with unpacked clothes and think what they should leave behind. "Mom has so many things. I don't think everything will be able to fit in these boxes," Adrian said while packing with his siblings their mothers belongs. Kimberly Cruz, 16, now has to call a two bedroom apartment home. Weeks away from her first week of her junior year of high school, she is worried that if her older brother can not afford their new apartment she will have to move into her aunts house who lives in San Diego, leaving behind her friends and the city of Las Vegas, the city she grew up in. "I'm tired of this, she still hasn't called," Kimberly said as she walked into her new bathroom to wipe away her tears. Her boyfriend and friend helped her move into her new place, and the call she was waiting for all day never happened. Checking her phone several times for a possible missed call, she now becomes emotional with all of the sudden change in her life while the one aspect of her life that reminds her of a normal life, is her mother, who is detained in a detention center. Kimberly Cruz rest in her bed as her younger brother Adrian Cruz sleeps on the top bunk. Kimberly longs for the days when her mother is home and having family time together. "Its quite now, I'm unsure when she's coming home," Kimberly said. Kimberly and her mother did everything together, including going shopping, going to the nail salon, and Adriana picking up her children from school. The siblings older brother Omar Cruz works full time at a restaurant to afford for his siblings to live. Working full time has turn him into the man of his family household. Kimberly quit the job as a hostess at the restaurant during the time of dealing with their mothers detainment, which lead Omar to work even more shifts. Though he has a different father than his younger siblings, he has always been the one to step up in situation when the family needed him financially. Omar received power of attorney over his younger siblings following his mother’s detainment in order to keep the family together, and at 21 years old he signed his first lease for an apartment for both of his siblings to live in. He feared of homelessness if the Cruz family did not receive money from a GoFundMe created for them to move out of their house and afford the first months rent in their new apartment. "I have to take extra shifts to make sure I can afford our new apartment. I work 40 hours a week, and I don't want to have the fear of not having a place to live," Omar explained. Outside of the Immigration Court Room, Omar hugs his younger brother Adrian, as Kimberly makes phone calls to discuss the families option with posting bail; the family spent the GoFundMe money on moving expenses and first months rent of their new apartment "I was the one who had to step up. I found a lawyer and start the GoFundMe, because Omar needed to go to work," Kimberly explained. Photos are remnants of childhood memories for the Cruz family. Omar Cruz's new apartment wall is covered with photos of friends and family. On the far left hand corner is a family portrait of Adriana with Kimberly and Omar before her son Adrian was born. Adriana Cruz cries from a monitor via video chat moments after seeing her children for the first time in three weeks through a telecast. Handcuffed with an orange jumpsuit, she is treated just like anybody else in the jail system. Having to bring her shackled left hand up to wipe the tears with her right, her children wave to her through the monitor, the first time she has seen them in a month. The Cruz family were the only ones present with a pending case in the immigration court room the day of the hearing, with at least ten other immigrants detained also having hearings for their cases. The Cruz family waited two hours before their mother came to the stand, listening to every immigrants plea to not be deported. The immigration court judge granted Adriana a 5,000 bond, after the Cruz attorney mention her case being a humanitarian issue, with Adriana being the sole custodial parent of her three children. "The first night I was crying all night, and worried about my children. I didn't know what was going to happen. I just felt really sick being in one place with others who were not just immigrants, also criminals, and drug people." Adriana said. Cameras were not allowed in the facility, only iPhones were able to capture this moment. On August 6, 2019, Adriana Cruz is released from the Henderson Detention Center, she is bailed out by Arriba Las Vegas Workers Center, which has an immigration bond fund. The Henderson Detention Center did not give the Cruz family notice beforehand so Adriana walked across the street to a gas station, borrowed a strangers phone, and made a call to her daughter Kimberly, from there she became reunited with her son Omar with a surprise at his job and Adrian at the new apartment. The family decided during this time they needed to stay to themselves. By August 8th, 2019, Adriana consoles her daughter who becomes emotional discussing the days of uncertainty and the journey ahead. "Is that a police officer outside, who is out there," Kimberly said in a frenzy. Witnessing blue sirens has made her cautious because she is afraid they are there to check up on her mother, the way officers pulled over Adriana on July 11, steaming from an outstanding warrant for a traffic violation from 2011. Now back together after 25 days of their mothers absence, the Cruz family find comfort in laying down together on the couch and going to the movies together. On August 13, 2019, Adriana is back to living a normal life with her children. She picks Adrian and Kimberly from school and discusses family plans for dinner. After picking up Adrian from school she serendipitously drives by the intersection were officers pulled her over on July 11, she looks on the street off Sahara Avenue and says this was the place. "This is the street where I was detained. The officer stopped me and then I was put into custody," Adriana said. Her children take a break from texting on their phone to reflect on the day, and how in one month their entire lives almost changed. Adriana Cruz prays during service at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Las Vegas. She made a promise to herself that she would go to church the Sunday after her release. Adriana Cruz future is still uncertain, while on bail with three children who are United States citizens she now wants to take the steps to have her green card renewed, find work, and one day become a United States citizen. For now she assimilates back into society, and goes back to a normal life not knowing if she will have to leave her children and move back to a country she first left 24 years ago. "I want to take the steps to be here for my children, I don't want to leave, and I don't want to leave my children behind," Adriana said.
