Last month, Ms. Flores, 37, left her young daughter at school and boarded an N train at 59th Street in Brooklyn to work on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. She chose the second car because she was heavily pregnant and tired, and she wanted a seat where she could take a nap.
Just then, smoke filled the air, and she held her breath. One man laughed and said that they would all die. She said: “There were explosive bangs as other commuters ran towards her car.
“In that moment, I just felt the fear inside of me,” she said. “I got a phone and started shooting some videos.”
Sharing audio recordings with police might be a common practice, but doing so is a bold move for Ms. Flores, who is under a deportation order issued after immigration officers. scene of a raid on an Amtrak train she was traveling on in 2000. Ms. Flores said she was never notified of the hearing and was only discovered many years later.
However, after the shoot was over, all she could think about was her unborn child.
“I want him to get well,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking about, ‘Oh, something will happen to me if I talk to them.'”
Her attorney, Gomez Alfaro, plans to ask the immigration court in Buffalo, NY, to lift the deportation order and said he is optimistic because of recent federal guidance on ending cases. deportation for those with no criminal history.
However, he said, the city must expedite the paperwork to assist her in applying for a U visa, for victims of crimes including assault and attempted murder. The applicant must submit a certificate to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from law enforcement, certifying that he or she helped with the investigation.
