An undocumented Texas family thought ICE was at the door, until floods swept away their home. Now they fear asking for help

CNN

2 days ago

Within seconds of realizing her Texas home was filling with water early on the morning of July 4, Rosalinda began waking her children, grandchildren and mother, yelling to them, 'Let's go!'
But in the chaos – and after weeks of hearing rumors of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across Texas – her family didn't immediately realize they were escaping life-threatening floods.
'At first, the kids thought we were running from immigration,' the undocumented mother who has lived in the US for 12 years, told CNN. 'We didn't think twice. The good thing is the children are very obedient.'
The family of 12 – four generations that lived in three neighboring mobile homes perched on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Kerr County – linked arms and began wading through ankle-deep water that quickly became waist-deep as they struggled to reach a neighbor's RV that would carry them to safety.
'There wasn't even a chance to put on shoes. We were all barefoot,' said Rosalina, who CNN is identifying only by her first name due to her immigration status.
Everyone in the family survived, but their homes were swept away, along with all their belongings.
'You never think that will happen to you,' Rosalinda said. 'It was a very ugly experience. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.'
More than a month after the devastating flooding in Texas' Hill Country that killed at least 135 people and displaced others, survivors are struggling to find adequate financial aid because of complex insurance claims, government red tape and financial strain.
But families like Rosalinda's and community activists told CNN undocumented people are facing additional burdens – from lacking proper identification to receive aid to the fear that asking for help will risk exposing their residency status.
Kerr County, where Hispanic and Latino people make up more than 25% of the nearly 52,600 residents, was the hardest hit by the disaster. While the toll on the undocumented community is hard to calculate, many lived on ranches, camps, and in mobile homes along the river.
Now, Rosalinda said, it feels like the entire life she built in the US has been washed away permanently.
'We struggled a lot to get here, and now we've lost everything.'
Government assistance like FEMA and nonprofit aid groups like Salvation Army and Samaritan's Purse have been the lifeline for Texas flood victims left in need of clothing, food and housing. But like other humanitarian aid programs, these organizations often require identification and proof of residency to qualify for their assistance.
In Rosalinda's case, only her eldest daughter Maria and a son – both US citizens over 18 years old – would best qualify to apply for aid on behalf of her family, with the rest either underage or undocumented. But their IDs and utility bills were lost in the flood, and their landlord was unwilling to write a letter vouching for their residency out of fear of his insurance finding out he was housing undocumented people, said Maria, who CNN is also only identifying by her first name due to her immigration status.
'It came out to: 'No, because I don't want trouble with any cops or anything due to the fact that there (were) illegals on my property.''
The mother and daughter said aid groups they spoke with were sympathetic with their family's circumstances, but the organizations told them there was little they could do for them.
'The Salvation Army continually works to meet human need without discrimination, and current flood relief efforts in Texas are no exception,' the organization told CNN in a statement, noting it is working in Kerr County in coordination with FEMA. 'While these disaster relief services do require individuals to provide proof that they are or were living in an area impacted by the floods, they do not need to provide proof of citizenship, nor disclose their citizenship status, and any information they provide to The Salvation Army is protected by the organization's confidentiality policies,' the statement read.
Samaritan's Purse said it has more than 2,100 volunteers working in Texas and is helping nearly 300 families in Kerr County. 'We are not asking about immigration status or requiring any form of ID to mud out homes, clear debris, and provide immediate assistance for critical needs,' such as gift cards for groceries and other necessities, Samaritan's Purse said in a statement.
'When Samaritan's Purse is replacing a mobile home or rebuilding a house from the ground up we do require some form of documentation that they live at the property.'
Jose Nunez, a Kerrville mechanic and US citizen who lost the home he lived in with his wife and undocumented mother, said help has been 'limited' since there are only a few aid groups and financial assistance grants that allow him to apply on his mother's behalf.
Already tight on money while supporting his mother – and now having to pay for a new lease on an apartment to replace the mobile home he lost in the flooding – Nunez said his mother feels as if she is a burden to him.
'My mom had already mentioned to us that maybe she wanted to live in Mexico because of everything that had already been going on, and she thought things weren't going to get any better,' he said. 'So, it's to the point where my mom is basically really considering now going to Mexico, because from one day to another, you lose everything.'
Beyond practical barriers to aid, a common theme uniting Hill Country migrants is fear of seeking help from authorities amid President Donald Trump's widespread crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the US.
'They don't want to be known or recognized,' said Jessica Cruces, a local nurse and volunteer who has been helping Hispanic families in Kerr and surrounding counties. 'They don't want to share names, and it's hard to retrieve their addresses of where they're staying to be able to drop off stuff.'
Families and activists also told CNN undocumented flood survivors are worried about working directly with government agencies like FEMA in case they are obligated to report suspected migrants to immigration authorities.
FEMA policies allow for some immigrants to receive aid following natural disasters, including green card holders, those granted asylum and those who are the parent or guardian of a minor child who is a US citizen.
But when contacted by CNN, FEMA did not directly answer whether it reported undocumented people who are seeking aid to immigration authorities.
'FEMA is focused on providing aid and assistance to American citizens following emergencies and natural disasters,' said an agency spokesperson. 'FEMA will follow all applicable law in regard to illegal aliens requesting assistance.' The agency added that the Department of Homeland Security 'urges all illegal aliens present in the United States to self-deport home.'
While Cruces said she has yet to see ICE agents target undocumented flood victims, the worry is that Texas authorities are supportive of the Trump administration's immigration actions.
In January, the White House began pushing for local law enforcement to play more of a role in immigration enforcement in certain circumstances. Since then, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced state troopers and special agents would help search for migrants with warrants.
Partly for that reason, Nunez told CNN he moved his mother to live with relatives in another part of Texas as state troopers rushed to Kerrville to help with recovery efforts, even though she doesn't have a warrant for her arrest.
'There are so many state troopers everywhere,' Nunez said. 'Even when we were cleaning up on the property, we had a lot of police come by. I don't really want to talk to them. I don't really want to give out any details or anything like that.'
Since the flood, Rosalinda said her family feels 'hidden' as they isolate from the public.
She told CNN her son's employer provided them with a one-bedroom apartment for her 12-person family, but she believes the employer could face steep fines if his neighbors or police discover he is housing undocumented people.
Because of this, Maria is the only member of the family currently leaving the apartment during the day – the rest stay indoors until night, when they believe they are less at risk of being spotted by police.
'We only leave the house at these hours to get some air, so the kids can run a bit,' she said. 'But during the day we don't go out at all because we feel in danger.'
Knowing many immigrant families were worried about seeking help, volunteers like Ilda Mendoza – a Kerr County employee who volunteers working with immigrant families – told CNN she would scope out aid distribution sites and ensure residents without proper identification could still qualify. She would then escort families to the aid sites to help ease their fears.
But even then, Mendoza said, many – even those with permanent residency or US citizenship – were hesitant to seek help.
'It was like pulling teeth for some of them, even though they were legal,' she said.
She understands the worry: as a naturalized citizen herself, Mendoza said she is now anxious about potentially being targeted by immigration authorities under the Trump administration.
'I'm a US citizen, I speak English, and I work with the county, but even for me, I don't necessarily want to be taken' into custody, she said.
Community members and volunteers who have long helped Texas immigrant communities say they are more cognizant of bringing unwanted attention to the families they serve. Many volunteers are more discreet about publicly advertising aid and programs for migrants, according to Lisa Weinstein, a Hunt-based teacher with over 30 years of experience teaching English to non-native speakers.
'I feel protective of the people I work with,' Weinstein said. 'It feels like no one is safe. We were told that undocumented criminals would be targeted and sent back to their countries, but it seems now that even asylum seekers are being abducted and sent off to who-knows-where.'
For some Texans, such as Houston-based contractor Jairo Torres, seeing the struggles of Latino and undocumented families became their call to action and volunteer.
Torres told CNN he was initially drawn to help in Hill Country after seeing photos of the young campers and counselors swept away by floodwaters at Camp Mystic, a girls' summer camp slammed by floodwaters that left 27 campers and counselors dead.
But after arriving in Kerr County with his heavy-duty construction equipment and realizing many of the Latino families were struggling to get help, Torres said he decided to stay in the area specifically to aid those families.
'Hispanic people were (saying) that everybody was focusing on other areas or on Anglo people … They were like five days without help,' Torres said.
Part of the delay in initially helping Latino families was a lack of information about rescue and recovery services in Spanish, according to Weinstein.
'A lot of them are very timid anyway, so this has really, really pushed people to their limits. I mean, I think some of them are suffering from PTSD, and so I think they are hesitant to come out at all, to interact with people, regardless of their immigration status,' she said.
For Mendoza, while the disaster brought aid groups to the community that have been willing to help regardless of immigration status, she said the situation 'definitely brought more focus to how scared (the undocumented) are in general, how scared they are to leave their house because troopers are here.'
Still, Weinstein has witnessed the tight-knit community in Hunt, one of the towns hit hard by flooding, be supportive of everyone since the flood, 'regardless of immigration status.'
'If there's any kind of silver lining to this, it's that,' she told CNN.