Mari (Asylum Seeker from Venezuela)
Appearances
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
He has a Mickey Mouse, but the Mickey Mouse is smoking. He used to smoke and he used to do ridiculous things like that because to me they're ridiculous things, but yeah. And then behind that he has like a little hand, like a little hand with an eye, and he tells me that eye sees everything. And I was just like, bueno, okay. And he has something else there, like just like an ugly doll.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
The owner of the house stands up and he looks out the window and he sees, you know, a few police outside. And they show him a photo and they ask him for a muchacho, for a guy. And he says, no, he doesn't live here, but three other people live here.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
He was a dark-skinned person with dark hair. He had big eyes. He had a beard. We didn't really know who he was. And they tell us that he's Dominican. And he tells us that they're going to check the house to just make sure and to verify, to make sure it's true that that person that they're looking for doesn't live here. I really didn't see a problem with it because we haven't committed any crime.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
So they went downstairs, and obviously I went first because I was there to wake him up. He was half asleep, and he says, what's happening? He sat up, and when he sat up, well, he usually sleeps naked. I hand him a towel and I tell him, put the towel on because, nene, viene la policia, the police is coming. They came in, they pushed the door, they put me in handcuffs, they put him in handcuffs.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
And the moment that happened, I said, well, what's happening? Why are you putting us in handcuffs? And then I started crying, I started crying, and he would tell me, niña, tranquila, niña, calm down. And I kept on crying and I was asking, why are we in handcuffs? Why are they doing this? But they didn't tell me anything. The only thing they were saying, stay calm because things can get worse.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
And if he moved, whatever movement he made, they would like sit him down. I mean, he couldn't do anything. He couldn't move.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
I didn't know what to do, so the first thing I did was, I don't know, I went to work. You went to work after that? Why? I didn't know what to do. I thought to myself, look, I'll go to work, I'll look for help. I just didn't know what to do. I didn't know. Everything felt stuck. I've never gone through something like this.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
Four or five times a day was him calling me, me calming him down, me telling him he was going to get out of there, to have faith.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
And then he called me. He called me at 4 in the morning. And he tells me, crying desperately, Niña, they transferred me again to El Valle, to Texas. I was the whole time on a plane. They didn't tell me anything. I didn't eat. I didn't drink water. They didn't give us anything. I haven't been able to sleep. They're going to process me here.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
And me, bueno niño, calm down, be strong, you're going to leave. Remember that on Monday you have your court appointment. If we have to pay bail, we'll pay bail. But you're going to leave, you're going to get out of there.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
I arrived really late to my house that day. I arrived at 8 o'clock. I arrived on the bus. When I get down off the bus on the corner of my house, my boss, she was the one that sent me the video. She tells me, More, I sent you this video. I think I saw your husband there. Take a look and let me know if it's him. She sent it to your phone, like a video on your phone? Sí.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
Yeah, it was a news clip from Telemundo. And I, you know, I click on the video and, you know, the beginning is that there were airplanes getting to El Salvador and a bunch of Venezuelans, people getting off the planes and all of that. But at the end, when the video was almost done, there's a moment where there's people kneeling down, getting shaved.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
I recognized him at once. I recognized him immediately. The second I saw him, I knew it was him. He has a tattoo and it's a Chinese phrase like on his sideburn. And obviously when they were shaving him, you could see it. And he has long curly blonde hair. And he's the only one who had hair like that. I mean, it was him. It was him. That was him. I recognized him at once when I saw the video.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
When I saw him, I went into crisis. I started shaking. I started crying. I was with another girl that lives with me because we work in the same hotel. And I tell her, Josefina, it's him. Josefina, it's him. It's Mikael. They took him. And I just, it was very bad. I told her, no, Josefina, it's him. I was telling her, Jose, it's him, it's him, it's him.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
And the first thing she told me was calm down because something could happen to you. And all I could say was, Jose, it's him. They took him. I just felt so, so sad when I saw his face, like he was suffering. His eyes were swollen. He must have cried so much. And then immediately I went home, I turned on my computer and I started to look, and immediately I saw that he was no longer in the U.S.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
I mean, when you're with someone, you're going to notice if he's into something weird or not. And, you know, I'm a very toxic person. Bueno, not toxic, like, I'm not toxic when it comes to women, but I like to be on top of what he's doing all the time. I go through all his things. I go through his phone. I spent a lot of time with him at the barbershop.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
We were always making video calls while he was working, while I was working. It was always 24 hours a day we were in communication. We were in touch. And he's the same. He was more toxic than me.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
They were waiting for Mikael to come on the video call that they were doing for the correctional facility where he was, which is in Pennsylvania. Mikael never came out. The cops would say nothing. The cops wouldn't give a reason. All they would say was that they were looking for him.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
Sometimes I get to work and I'm doing whatever and I'm like, oh, I feel like calling Micael to see what's going on at the barbershop. And then obviously I remember that he's not here anymore, that I can't do that. When was the last time a moment like that happened for you? Literally every day that I go to work. In the mornings, it's always the first thing that comes to my mind.
This American Life
859: Chaos Graph
Because every day when I get to work, it's, you know, the time he would call me always to say, are you okay? Did you have breakfast? To see if I had breakfast. I always, like, I wait for the call. I hear the phone ringing and I'm like, it's Mikael. And like that. And that's what it's like. It's like the hardest thing.