Back in America

If you're tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, try talking with one of them in real life.

Welcome to Back in America, the podcast.

Hi, I'm Stan Bertelout and this is Back in America. Before we jump into the fifth interview, I want to thank you all for your fantastic support. Thank you for the great reviews, your feedback and encouraging comments. And for those of you who are just joining us now, please subscribe and leave us a review. Wherever you get your podcasts, you can't imagine how important this is to help us grow. If you want to reach out, the best way is on Twitter. I am at Bertelout. Alright, so today I'm here with Liliana Clotilde Morenilla. Hello Liliana. Hi, how are you Stan?

I'm good thanks. So I met you a few weeks ago and I immediately realized that you were a pillar of the Latino community here in Princeton. You work for Princeton Public School and for the Princeton Township Human Services Department. You are highly educated, you've got a law degree from the University of Madrid and a minor in international law from Harvard. You've moved to Princeton in 2007 and barely a year later you were already deeply involved as a volunteer helping the immigrant community. In 2010, you joined the board of the Cocoa Fund, which subsidizes after school activities for children whose family can't afford it. And in 2015, you were officially working as a community outreach liaison for the Princeton Public Schools. At the same time, you started distributed food for the needy in a program that was officially recognized at the Henry Panel Mobile Food Pantry in 2018. Today, you are part of Solidaridad that assists the immigrant community and the Princeton Children's Fund and other food sharing associations, which we will cover in another podcast.

Recently, you became the Princeton Coordinator for the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a program that assists first generation immigrants in going to college. Last May, the Princeton Council recognized you for your work for the community, the student and their family. Well, Liliana, it seems that you've always lived to give and to help others. Is that so? And if I could have asked your mother, how old was Lily when she first realized that she cared so much for other people? What do you think she would have told me? Well, my father was a Supreme Court judge and he was a judge for the tribunal in Strasbourg. So I used to help my dad with all his statistics and all that. I think I was 11 when I started realizing that life wasn't fair and that not everybody was as lucky as we were. So I would say I was around 11. 11. Wow. So, yeah, you moved into Princeton in 2007. Why did you move to the US? Well, to the US, my mother is from the United States, so I have been very linked to the United States since I was a little girl. I grew up in both countries.

I studied in both countries and then I got married and I came here in 1991 and one of my first child was born in Baltimore. And we have lived in many places in the United States, in Spain and England. All right. So you are, yeah, I mean, you say you grew up all over the place. When you think of your childhood, which places do you associate with your childhood? Madrid and Granada. Ah, Spain. Yep. All right. As a child, what did you want to be? Oh my goodness, I wanted to be a politician. Yes. All right. And what happened?

Well, then I realized that politics suck.

Okay. So you are very involved with the Latino community, a population that is currently described by the president as bringing drugs to the country, crime, and who he says are rapists. Yes.

So he did say that. What is the reality? What do you see every day? What I see, I see good people. I see hardworking people. I see good parents. I see people who don't need, who need a lot. They're very needy. And to tell you the truth, they don't know better. So, I, you know, there are many parents who brought their children in backpacks, who brought them in their, in suitcases. They brought their kids because they wanted to be something different. And they're working very, very hard for their children. That's why I see every day.

So let's go back to that in a minute. But maybe before that, I recently realized that Princeton that we see as being very privileged. You know, it's an expensive city to live in. And honestly, you don't see people starving in the street. Yet, what you told me is quite shocking, right? Apparently, there would be 5,000 people that don't get a meal every day. Yes, that is correct. Can you tell me a bit more about the numbers? I think Princeton has around 40,000. I think the population is around 40,000. If you get the free and reduced forms from the public schools, 12% of those kids are in free and reduced form. So we're talking around 800 kids, maybe more. So it's those kids that are in free and reduced form. So that makes around 4,000 people. Wow. And so how do they live? I mean, where do they get their resources from?

There is an under what I call the undercover Princeton is the Jackson neighborhood. The different places in Princeton were used as a place to live. These are the places where a family of four can live for around $1,000. So that's a little bit of a difference. The different places in Princeton were you can rent a room for $1,000. A room is a tiny little bit of a place. It doesn't need to have a window. These are the places where a family of four can live for around $1,000. So that is mostly extortion. But that's how they're living. And why do they come here? They come here because Princeton is now serving a lot, meaning they have restaurants, they have a lot of people who need landscaping, and they need their gutters cleaned and cleaning ladies and all that. And this population is working under those jobs. So they've got basic jobs. Yes. And despite that, they still can't afford to feed their family. Yes, it's just taking into account that a meal in the public school is $3. So that would be $15 per kid. So that is impossible. If you're in free, it's zero. But if you're reduced, it's 50 cents, which then a week is $2 times, you know, four.

Plus, if you have more children, and most of our families have three to four children. So if you keep adding, plus the $1,000 that you pay monthly, plus living, it's a lot of money because also it's utilities and, you know, their jobs. They're paying $7 an hour mostly, these jobs. They're badly paid. So how do they feed their kids? Well, I think if you know, for instance, let's talk about Panera. In Panera, there are a bunch of parents who work there. So then they will take that food that is left over to their houses. I'm talking about Panera Burger King, all those places. If not, they just do their own meals. That is a lot of rice and beans with chicken that is not very expensive. But it's that is a struggle. Absolutely. So we are talking about the Latino community. We all read the news. We know that a lot of them are crossing into the US illegally. Is that the situation here in Princeton too? Yes, when they what you call illegally, it is true is they come without a passport or a visa or work permit. But they're coming from countries is mostly what they call the triangle. So it's Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. And these countries are they're very, very poor to begin with. When they work there, either the Maras that is the gangs are just making their life miserable. Mostly if you have a male in your family, he will be drawn into a Mara. So they have many, many parents are just bringing their kids here because they just, you know, they can die. If any story from the high school, you will, you know, will make you cry. Do you have any such a story to share with us?

Yes, we have in the high school has lots of kids who have been going through this. It's you wake up and you try to go to school. School is far away. It's around two hours walking. So in the middle of the road, someone who's 13 has a huge big gun and is already an addict. It tells you that if you don't belong to the Mara, they're going to kill you or they're going to kill your family. Or if you don't, sorry, the Mara. It's M-A-R-A. Yeah, Mara is a gang. It's a gang. The Mara 13 or 15 or 18 are the worst Maras. I would say the worst Maras of the world. Yeah. So sorry. Sorry. So Mara slash gang. They're run by kids with guns. And these kids are run by maybe 18 years old, 23. And those guys have other bosses who are in their 30s. I mean, the percentage of people who die every day around that age is amazing in these countries. So they will drag. They're trying to drag the boys particularly just to do more drugs and to sell more guns and just to do horrible things to others. Exactly why? I don't know. But this is what is going on. And this is one of the reasons why their parents would. Yeah, that's why they're trying to bring. Yeah, the boys, particularly the boys. So they cross the border and somehow they come to New Jersey. What happened in between? Yeah, well, there's like a route. So it goes from Texas to Florida, Florida, North Carolina, North Carolina, New Jersey. And then from New Jersey, it goes to the Midwest if they do the East part. And again, they try to go to cities where you don't need a driver license. New Jersey doesn't have driver license for our our friends. So they just they know that when they come here, you can walk. Everything is walking distance is cheaper than going to New York City.

They have lots of relatives like mostly we have people from Jalapa, Guatemala in New Jersey. I mean, in Princeton, New Brunswick has people from Oaxaca from Mexico. I think Trenton has also from their different towns in New Jersey have from different villages. So that's how they're getting sticking together. And when you say there is a route, what is that route? I mean, they're run by the coyotes. The coyotes are the snugglers. So the coyotes will bring you one way or the other. Okay. And you were talking to me about a child here who is still paying back the coyote. Yeah, around you pay the coyote around $10,000 to snuggle in. If you don't get caught, if you get caught, then it's half the price. If you come with a child, then it's also half the price. So they have their own little way of doing things. And so you do see kids who are paying back the coyote. Absolutely. Yes. Yeah, most of them are. And who are supporting their family.

Yes. So they have two jobs. They go to the high school. They have two jobs. One job is to support themselves here. And the other job is to support the family that they left home, plus the debt that they have with the coyote. Wow.

So what what kind of impact have you seen as the current administration step into into the White House? How did that impact the people you take care of? The impact is fear. People are extremely they're they're scared to go out. They're scared to go to the to the shopping centers. They're scared to go to the market. They're scared to go anywhere. I have many I have many mothers who haven't left the house for two years ago. I mean, it's it's post-traumatic stress. Talk about that. I mean, we we see the kids that we see daily, the mental health. It's it's it's an issue. They are they're they're very sad. They're hungry. I don't know the population, the future population. It's going to be is going to be interesting. And do you get any help and resource to help them with their mental health? Yes. Thank God. Princeton is a very, very giving community. They are they have we have different groups, different support groups, members of the community. I have no words of how to express how extremely generous with their time with their financially. They have helped these kids. I mean, I really don't want to name anyone, but it's it's unbelievable. I think also that is another why they come to Princeton.

So this country, obviously, since the election of Trump has been as divided as ever. What hope do you have for Princeton? I I think that if they were humanitarian humanitarian groups who went to these particular countries and help them from there, I think that would be major. These countries need help. They are, you know, the the political situation there. It's it's horrible. They're very poor countries. They're the what is going on, the terrorism that is going on this, this, this can this has to stop and it has to stop from their places. So I think that with the help of some resources in their own places, I think that this would really work. But that is a dream for sure. So you are an immigrant yourself in a way. What is America for you?

America is is really the place of opportunities. I want to think that is for freedom. It's that's why I tell you know, I tell my kids, I tell the rest of the other my kids, it's this is a place that things can work and that you can become from, I don't know, gymnastic or any sort of mathematician. It's with the right tools. So I really want to believe that that this is the country of opportunity.

And you think this is more so than the country where you grew up, Spain? I mean, I want to believe it is. Yeah, still today. It's still today. What what advice would you have for people that are listening to this podcast and who want to help or who want to get involved? I would just you know, there's something that I tell everybody is please be kind. It's a smile, just a touch. It's it is for anybody who you see that is suffering and it's there. They don't have this the same tools you had. So I would just say that to your neighbors. Be kind. Try to give and life will work better that way. And if they really want to provide help, you know, get involved with the charity or an association, what resources would you suggest to find out where they can be active? I think it's this not all is about money. I think it's if you can donate your time in food pantries in any sort of lulled of Latin American legal defenses. They need help every day mentoring groups in the high school in your it doesn't have to be Princeton in any of our in your community.

Just try try to give your time, your smile, your if you can provide financially, that's also great. But there are many, many other groups. Wow. So as we've seen, you live for the other. You are their sister, their mother, your their support. What what bring you the most happiness? Oh, the hugs, the kids that give you the smile, you know, when they they've done something good for themselves is it's that is very, very rewarding. When you see them graduating from high school, when you see them that they have accomplished college right now, I had a text from one of the kids that I mentor that they got into technology school that I mean that makes my day. Do you have a lot of stories like that? Yes, I do. Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to share another one? Well, I mentor 15 kids. They are financially as Stan said, they are financially challenged. First generation immigrants. I it's a very, very diverse group. It I have kids that they have been. Some of them were born in preservation camps, camps, refugee camps. Some of them came in backpacks. Some of them, they, you know, they struggled to come here. Some I have kids who are autistic. I have all sorts of kids, but they are with the little help.

They have going to they're going to make it. So these kids, I have one who's going to go to art school in Maryland that I'm very, very proud. Then I have my girls from Burma that also they're going there. One of them probably will make it to Rutgers. You know, they're one maybe Cornell. So I mean, I'm crossing my fingers. That's amazing. Do you keep in touch with them? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they do keep in touch with you. Yes. I mean, yes, it's a link forever. How do they call you? Miss Lil. Miss Lil. All right. Well, thank you so much, Liliana. Thank you. Thank you very much for having me. Good. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Done. Well, that's stressful. Well, it's yes and no. I think if it was in Spanish, I wouldn't have such an issue. But you know, you have to double think everything. Am I pronouncing this? Did I say refugee? Blah, blah, blah. Nobody cares.

Yeah.