{"id":115160,"date":"2025-05-21T20:34:36","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T01:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milwaukeenns.org\/?p=115160"},"modified":"2025-05-21T20:34:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T01:34:38","slug":"fourteen-years-in-wisconsin-a-one-way-ticket-to-el-salvador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milwaukeenns.org\/2025\/05\/21\/fourteen-years-in-wisconsin-a-one-way-ticket-to-el-salvador\/","title":{"rendered":"Fourteen years in Wisconsin. A one-way ticket to El Salvador.","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story was originally published by The 19th<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

MILWAUKEE \u2014 When Yessenia Ruano walks through the door of her home after work, her husband, Miguel, is in the kitchen, shredding chicken with two forks, and her twin daughters are in the living room, playing on an iPad. The sound of \u201cPrimer Impacto\u201d fills the background. <\/p>\n

Ruano opens the fridge to keep the dinner prep going. On the top shelf, there are more than 150 corn tortillas lying flat in their plastic bags. On the bar counter, near unopened mail and trinkets, is a pack of zinnia seeds waiting for the last frost to pass before Yessenia and the girls plant them in the patio across the driveway. <\/p>\n

This doesn’t look like the home of a family on the verge of being uprooted, until Ruano and her husband \u2014 one rolling chicken into tortillas over hot oil, the other tending to a pile of dishes on the sink \u2014 start talking about the questions suddenly pressing on their everyday lives. <\/p>\n

\"Ruano
Ruano prepares lunch for her 9-year-old twin daughters at home on April 6. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In February, during a check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agent told Ruano that the government would accelerate plans to deport her. Save for a change in her immigration status, the agent said, she should report back to ICE in two months with a plane ticket back to El Salvador set for 50 days out. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s April now; her next appointment with ICE is coming up in just a few weeks. \u201cShe said I should buy just one plane ticket,\u201d Ruano, 38, tells her husband, recalling a conversation with a colleague at the local public school where she works. Her colleague reasoned that if Ruano bought a fare for everyone in the family and her deportation was averted, they\u2019d be throwing a lot of money in the trash.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always thought we should buy four tickets,\u201d Miguel tells her, hunched over the sink. A few months ago, Ruano went on a ladies\u2019 retreat with her church for two nights and left him and their two children to fend for themselves. The girls cried and cried and barely slept. Their dog \u2014 a fluffy, white Bichon Fris\u00e9 who was named Snowflake before the family adopted him and is now named Copito, short for snowflake in Spanish \u2014 barely ate. <\/p>\n

Ruano agrees that the family should stay together, but most days, she\u2019s convinced they\u2019ll never use any of the plane tickets in question. Ruano, for 14 years, has clung onto hope that the immigration powers that be will eventually see that she belongs in the United States. She has checked in with ICE 17 times, worn a GPS monitor. She\u2019s also built the life she shares with her husband and their Milwaukee-born daughters, a job at a local school and volunteer work at her local Catholic parish. <\/p>\n

Through it all, she has searched for ways to create roots in the United States. Recently, she petitioned for a visa created for human trafficking victims, based on her experience of forced labor when she first entered the country. That petition is stuck in the growing backlog at the agency that handles visa applications, one that has accelerated since the start of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, practically speaking, they can do whatever they want,\u201d Ruano says. \u201cIf they\u2019re a little human, then I can prove I belong here. If they just care about detaining people to meet a certain quota and deport them \u2014 if I\u2019m just another number \u2014 then I can already hear them saying, \u2018Ma\u2019am, I don\u2019t care about your case. We\u2019re so sorry, but we\u2019re going to send you back to your country.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Ruano
Yessenia Ruano speaks with people after her appointment at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office on April 15, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ruano is among the millions of immigrants living in the United States who are facing deportation as the Trump administration ramps up the removal of people with no permanent immigration status. That includes immigrants who, like Ruano, have been in the country for more than a decade and have no criminal record, and whose ties to the country include young children \u2014 some of them U.S. citizens \u2014 and also careers and community. <\/p>\n

Ruano\u2019s precarious situation isn\u2019t entirely the product of Trump-era policies. Like millions of immigrants living in the United States, she entered the country at the southern border, lured by the promise of safety and stability. Like thousands of others, she asked for asylum and was allowed to stay as she waited for a resolution on her petition, as long as she followed the law. Even after her petition was unsuccessful, the U.S. government allowed her to remain in the country provided that she checked in regularly with immigration officials. <\/p>\n

\"Ruano
Yessenia Ruano speaks to her attorney, Marc Christopher, outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office before going into her appointment on April 15, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Under the United States\u2019 broken immigration system, one in which laws that haven\u2019t been updated in decades no longer align with the reality of immigration patterns, the country\u2019s reliance on the immigrant labor force or even the government\u2019s ability to enforce such laws, immigrants like Ruano have always lived at the discretion \u2014 at the whim \u2014 of whoever is in power, from the president down to the ICE officer who is looking at their case that day. <\/p>\n

When President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, that dynamic changed again, fueled by an agenda that seems to be taking shape day by day. <\/p>\n

Ruano remains in this limbo, bracing for her life to be upended while fighting for a different outcome. She follows the countless news stories about people who are in ICE detention, or who have been swiftly deported back to their home countries. Hundreds of thousands more are living just like her, navigating the shifting sands of American immigration policy. <\/p>\n

\n

Ruano\u2019s day usually starts early, and by 6:15 a.m., her daughters Paola and Eli, 9, are in the dining room, ready for their mom to brush their hair. Back in El Salvador, Ruano didn\u2019t think she would ever have children. The world seemed dangerous and broken, and life was expensive. \u201cWith the cost of living, I always thought, how<\/em>?\u201d she said one morning while brushing Eli\u2019s hair and finishing it with a braid.<\/p>\n

Ruano and her husband went to high school together in El Salvador and reconnected again in Milwaukee at the frozen pizza manufacturing plant where they both worked. Eventually, they started dreaming of growing their family. Soon there were four of them. Juggling two babies was hard, but they both landed steady work and were able to buy the duplex they live in, an older home they\u2019ve improved slowly. Here, they are watching Eli and Paola thrive. <\/p>\n

\"Ruano
On a school morning, Yessenia Ruano gets her daughter Paola ready for the day in Milwaukee on April 15, 2025. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eli loves art. She loves to take clay-like dirt from the backyard and shape it. In their living room, Ruano points to a little bowl made of coiled clay, brown and crumbly and beautiful. A bucket holds dozens of small figurines made with air-dry clay, detailed and complex. <\/p>\n

Paola is much more interested in building with Legos, and Ruano says proudly that she is ahead of her peers in math. Barely older than her sister, Paola has also taken on a caretaking role in the family that Ruano says came to her naturally.<\/p>\n

Ruano\u2019s daughters have been learning the violin and the viola. They\u2019ve been debating whether to keep going with the string instruments or move on to another extracurricular activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of those special skills and talents, we can\u2019t really tend to them in my country,\u201d Ruano said. \u201cIt\u2019s like they\u2019re trying to rip away my dreams, and also those of my two girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Elizabeth
Elizabeth and Paola, Yessenia Ruano\u2019s twin daughters, stand in the side yard of their home on April 6, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eli and Paola are U.S. citizens. Their lives would be significantly different in El Salvador, where economic opportunity, gender-based violence and more could alter the course of their lives. Their father, Miguel, has no legal immigration status. The 19th is not publishing his last name to protect his privacy and employment.<\/p>\n

Both times Ruano has appeared before ICE this year, agents have alluded to her daughters. During her February appointment, the agent said Ruano should buy plane tickets for her girls as well because she \u201cwould hate to see the family separated,\u201d Ruano recalls. During her April appointment, Ruano\u2019s lawyer at the time recalled that the agent scanned Ruano\u2019s plane ticket and asked why she hadn\u2019t bought plane tickets for the girls.<\/p>\n

Ruano has spent time talking to each daughter about the different possibilities ahead for their family, including a new life in El Salvador. <\/p>\n

\"Miguel
At a park in Milwaukee on April 6, 2025, Miguel \u2014 Yessenia Ruano\u2019s partner \u2014 pushes their daughters on a swing. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI tried to focus on the positive things, things I liked as a girl,\u201d Ruano said. Ruano explained that the school day in El Salvador would be shorter \u2014 the country has one of the shortest school weeks in the world<\/a>. There would be more time for play. <\/p>\n

\u201cI told them that they\u2019d see mango trees, orange trees,\u201d Ruano said. \u201cThings we don\u2019t have here.\u201d <\/p>\n

They\u2019d still get to sleep next to each other, as they do in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

\n

Ruano has a trove of files documenting her immigration journey in the United States, but one piece of paper worn thin from years of use tracks every check-in she\u2019s had with ICE since she entered the United States from Mexico in 2011.<\/p>\n

At the time, Ruano petitioned for the only form of relief she was told she was eligible for, a form of asylum called “withholding of removal,\u201d which requires immigrants to prove that there is at least a 51% likelihood of suffering persecution in their home country. <\/p>\n

When her case finally came up for review a decade later, a judge told Ruano that her petition would be denied and said Ruano could withdraw it to avoid having the denial on her record. During the hearing, the judge told Ruano through her then-lawyer that the U.S. government wasn\u2019t actively deporting people like her, who had no criminal record. She could explore other avenues for legal status. <\/p>\n

\"Ruano
Ruano flips through the stack of paperwork documenting her 14-year fight to stay in the United States on April 6, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By 2024, she was running out of alternatives and time. ICE placed her in a monitoring program called Alternatives to Detention, or ATD, and told that her deadline to file for a different path to legal status was near. <\/p>\n

ICE advertises the ATD program as having been designed for immigrants who were \u201cthoroughly vetted\u201d and deemed not a risk to public safety. To enroll someone in the program, ICE officers consider their ties to the community and status as a caregiver or provider. Ruano checked all of the boxes. <\/p>\n

Ruano\u2019s participation in the program left a mark: She has a band of pale skin around her wrist, where ICE secured a GPS device. <\/p>\n

The device tracked her location, had facial-recognition software for regular check-ins with ICE, and had messaging capabilities between the agency and Ruano; \u201cPlease call your officer\u201d was a regular prompt. Ruano could swap the batteries to make sure the wrist monitor was powered at all times. Sometimes the backup battery wouldn\u2019t work, so she was left to plug the monitor \u2014 still attached to her wrist \u2014 directly into a wall outlet. When it became loose and couldn\u2019t read her pulse, it would blare loudly. \u201cI would be in the classroom with kids, trying to fix it,\u201d Ruano said. <\/p>\n

At home, Ruano pored over the internet and eventually found a firm in Chicago that helped her file for a T visa as a victim of human trafficking. <\/p>\n

The application was almost complete when Ruano was asked to report to ICE for a check-in on Valentine\u2019s Day. Ruano\u2019s lawyer at the time told her that she feared there was a better-than-90% chance she would be detained. Ruano felt that the time she was promised to finish her application had been suddenly taken away.<\/p>\n

She spent most of the week of the appointment working furiously to make sure her T visa application was in the hands of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, that her personal documents were in order, that there was a care plan for the girls beyond Miguel. She did all of that while juggling calls with reporters and advocates from Voces de la Frontera, the local immigrant advocacy group supporting her. She watched herself get to the brink of an emotional breakdown. The voice inside her head begged for surrender: \u201cI\u2019m done. I can\u2019t keep going. I\u2019ll go back to my country and start over, from zero. The fight is over<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shift from her default, a hope and belief that things will work out. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been 14 years and I\u2019ve suffered a lot of stress, a lot of anxiety. Every week before one of my hearings with a judge or a check-in with ICE, those are nights of no sleep,\u201d Ruano said. \u201cI\u2019ll wake up at one in the morning needing to vomit.\u201d She\u2019s had 17 appointments over that time span, and 17 sleepless weeks.<\/p>\n

\"Yessenia
Ruano looks ahead as she and her daughters walk to her appointment at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office on April 15, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unlike many immigrants without authorization to permanently live in the country, Ruano has not and does not live in the shadows. The U.S. government knows exactly who she is, where she lives, where she works. Ruano said she was not \u2014 and is not \u2014 willing to defy a deportation order.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be worth it,\u201d she said. \u201cI would rather go back to my country, whatever may happen there. Because when I think about living in the shadows, not being able to use my real name, never being at peace \u2026 I don\u2019t want to live in hiding, waiting for the day they knock on my door.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

At the bilingual public school where she teaches, in Milwaukee\u2019s heavily Hispanic South Side, the chaos of Ruano\u2019s immigration limbo dials down. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019m in my own world,\u201d Ruano said. \u201cMy problems stay back home.\u201d When she walks into a classroom full of kindergarteners, she tells herself, \u201cVamos a echarle ganas a este dia.\u201d Let\u2019s do this. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an easy place for her mind to wander to the version of the future she has dreamed for herself. She\u2019s an assistant teacher supporting the youngest learners with the most challenging needs. \u201cI\u2019m always thinking about getting my teaching license,\u201d Ruano said, \u201cso I can have my own classroom.\u201d <\/p>\n

Milwaukee has for years struggled with a shortage of teachers, falling victim to the nationwide teacher shortage<\/a>. The district\u2019s superintendent announced recently<\/a> that the next school year would start with 80 vacant teaching positions, and that\u2019s with a recent decision to thin the district\u2019s central office by moving more than a fifth of its administrative staffers with teaching certifications into classroom positions. <\/p>\n

\"Yessenia
Early in the morning, Ruano walks her dog, Copito, through her Milwaukee neighborhood on April 15, 2025. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In El Salvador, Ruano graduated from high school and worked her way through college to become an upper-grade teacher. She looked for work in education and wound up cleaning houses instead, joining other teachers with training but no place in the workforce. \u201cYou just end up having to do other work,\u201d Ruano said. \u201cI got here and saw that there\u2019s so much opportunity. Here, they need <\/em>teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruano\u2019s workday begins outside the school, where her job is to welcome kids getting dropped off by their parents. On a frigid April day \u2014 she does this same job on frigid January days, too, just with extra gear \u2014 most of the interactions are quick hellos and good mornings. One little boy in a Minecraft backpack is refusing to walk in. He\u2019s sad, and he\u2019s asking for his mom. Ruano leans down to chat with him for a minute, a hand on his shoulder, a warm smile beaming. Eventually, he decides to go inside. <\/p>\n

\"A
ALBA School, where Ruano works as an assistant teacher, stands quiet on a Sunday morning in Milwaukee. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ruano\u2019s job at this public school has anchored her firmly in this community. As part of Ruano\u2019s public plea to immigration officials, teachers and parents from her school have written letters about the value she brings to her community. One parent wrote that their child had been upset for days, worried about the fate of his favorite teacher. Ruano read one of these letters during a news conference before she walked into her February check-in, surrounded by TV cameras and supporters from Voces de la Frontera. Within 48 hours, they collected 2,800 signatures in an online petition supporting Ruano.<\/p>\n

When Ruano walked out of the courthouse that day, she went to the school to drop off her girls. Students filled the hallways and stairwells, erupting in cheers, relieved that she had not been detained. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was really sweet was that she led them in singing our school song. They\u2019re usually quiet and shy when we sing it during our school assemblies. That day they were not,\u201d said Brenda Martinez, who helped found the school and acts as its principal. Martinez has been worried about Ruano\u2019s case and said the school can\u2019t afford to lose her. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a lot of patience to work with the littlest learners. That\u2019s who she is,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cTo lose her is like losing a member of our family.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n

One of the most remarkable aspects of Ruano\u2019s journey, she\u2019ll say herself, is her own outlook in the face of so much upheaval. \u201cLa esperanza no se me quita,\u201d Ruano said. For the most part, she can\u2019t shake the hope that someday, things will inevitably work out. <\/p>\n

When she reached a point of desperation earlier in the year, she said the thought that pulled her out was a Bible verse she\u2019d memorized. \u201cI could hear Joshua 1:9 in my head: \u2018Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A man raises his hand in prayer during Mass at Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de la Paz, on April 6, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ruano and her family are devout Catholics and also involved with a local Evangelical church. Faith runs through their lives, though the urgency with which Ruano prays lately is new. <\/p>\n

During a recent Spanish-language Mass at the parish the family attends \u2014 the large hall filled quickly to capacity \u2014 the Rev. Javier Bustos opened the service with a prayer that asked God for \u201cjustice for the nation\u2019s immigrants.\u201d Bustos said in an interview that since the start of the Trump administration, fear has become palpable in his community, and Ruano\u2019s family is just one of the many whom he prays for. <\/p>\n

In many ways, Ruano\u2019s journey to the United States is not unique. She watched violence escalate in El Salvador, and grieved when her brother was kidnapped and later murdered. Her fear for her safety, combined with economic uncertainty, made a future in her home country look grim. <\/p>\n

\"Yessenia
Yessenia Ruano stands for a portrait at her church, Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de la Paz, on April 6, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her first attempt to enter the United States resulted in her immediate removal. She tried again less than a year later, paying a group of coyotes to guide her way into the country safely. Once in the United States, Ruano said, she became trapped in a filthy home and forced to work for her captors. She was eventually released after they extorted more money from her family back home. This forms the basis for her claim for a T visa, which requires her cooperation with law enforcement. <\/p>\n

Bustos, Ruano\u2019s priest, said in an interview that every immigrant\u2019s story is different, but that losing closely knit members of this church community feels the same: \u201cLike losing an arm, or a limb.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ruano is an active member of the church\u2019s prayer group and volunteers during Mass. This Sunday, she was tasked with a Bible reading in front of the several hundred gathered, including her husband and daughters, who smiled watching her walk up to the lectern. <\/p>\n

\"A
Parishioners stream into the sunshine after Sunday Mass at Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de la Paz on April 6, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Later, she attended a training for members hoping to work with young children, focused on keeping them safe. Ruano is part of a group of members who have committed nearly every Saturday for the next two years to walking a group of children through an intense curriculum in the Catholic faith, up to their First Communion. <\/p>\n

Ruano already started the rigorous curriculum with her group of students. She hopes to be around to watch them reach the rite of passage.<\/p>\n

\n

There\u2019s a single Salvadoran restaurant in Milwaukee. Its owner, Concepcion Arias, says business has changed since Trump was elected. Fewer customers are coming through the doors, and even some of the regulars are asking for their meals to go. \u201cPeople don\u2019t want to be out and about,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

But Ruano and her family are here on a Sunday after church, one of their regular spots for a meal after Mass. Paola orders a plate of fries with ketchup, while Eli goes for traditional pupusas. <\/p>\n

\"Yessenia
After church, Ruano and her family eat lunch at a neighborhood Salvadoran restaurant on April 6, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the cover of the menu is a picture of a beach in El Salvador. \u201cThat\u2019s where my uncle lives,\u201d Ruano says. The girls glance at the small photo of the sunny tropical landscape. When Ruano was a teenager, she moved to this coastal town to work at her uncle\u2019s hotel, a job that helped her pay for school. The girls agree the beach looks beautiful, but then Paola chimes in: \u201cI\u2019m really scared I\u2019m going to die on a plane.\u201d She\u2019s thinking about the prospect of ever traveling to El Salvador, a place she only knows through her parents\u2019 stories. <\/p>\n

Little moments like this one remind all four that the threat of removal hangs heavily over their lives. When lunch is over, the family heads back home, and then Miguel goes out to meet with a contractor. Their home\u2019s roof is overdue for a replacement \u2014 one of dozens of to dos that are suddenly urgent. Miguel is worried about leaving their home in less than good shape if Yessenia is removed to El Salvador.<\/p>\n

Under the Biden administration, a pending T visa application would typically halt removal proceedings, but that guarantee no longer exists under the Trump administration. At the end of the Biden administration, the wait time for USCIS to confirm it had received a visa application averaged about four weeks. On the day of Ruano\u2019s February check-in with ICE, the Trump administration fired 50 employees from USCIS. Within a few weeks, immigration lawyers were reporting that the wait time for visa application receipts had started to grow. When Ruano called USCIS to check on her case in early April, an agent said the average wait time was 10 weeks. When she checked in with USCIS in early May, they told her the wait had grown to four months.<\/p>\n

\"Yessenia
Yessenia Ruano fixes her daughter\u2019s hair while laughing with her twins on the sidewalk as they walk to her appointment at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office on April 15, 2025, in Milwaukee. (Jamie Kelter Davis for The 19th)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her lawyer, Marc Christopher, who has spent years working on immigration cases in the Milwaukee area, said he\u2019s not sure why ICE hasn\u2019t fast-tracked her deportation, but that in a multi-tiered system where so much is up to discretion, it\u2019s not clear who will have the final say on her case.<\/p>\n

She is due back for another appointment with ICE at the end of May. In an interview, Ruano said she remains hopeful. She\u2019s also started to sell household items they no longer use on Facebook Marketplace, a small step toward resignation. She hasn\u2019t bought flights for her husband or daughters and hopes she won\u2019t have to. The zinnia seeds are now one-inch sprouts.<\/p>\n

Ruano\u2019s daughters will turn 10 in early June. This year, they\u2019re most looking forward to celebrating their birthday at school, with cupcakes in class, surrounded by their friends, their mom nearby. <\/p>\n

Ruano\u2019s flight is scheduled to leave the United States the next day.<\/p>\n

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A one-way ticket to El Salvador. | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/milwaukeenns.org\/2025\/05\/21\/fourteen-years-in-wisconsin-a-one-way-ticket-to-el-salvador\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fourteen years in Wisconsin. A one-way ticket to El Salvador. | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yessenia Ruano worked to build a life in Milwaukee with her family, a teaching career and church community. 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