María, 27, a nurse who asked her name to be changed to protect her identity, arrived in New York City on September 27 with her 1-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son to escape the destruction caused by Hurricane María in their native Puerto Rico just one week prior. She left, among other things, for her daughter, who requires constant medical care to treat her disability.
“We only lasted seven nights,” María says. “The mosquitoes, the heat, and the pain were too much to bear.”
