EPISODE · Dec 8, 2025 · 14 MIN
A Milwaukee mother was forced to self-deport. A reporter followed to share her story
from Lake Effect Spotlight · host WUWM 89.7 FM - Milwaukee's NPR
Last summer, a woman working as a teacher's aide at a public school in Milwaukee was forced to self deport to her native country of El Salvador. Yessenia Ruano and her husband Miguel Guerra chose uncertain safety over the constant fear of detainment, after a decade-old deportation order for Yessenia rose to the surface. Immigration officials did not honor her pending application for a visa reserved for trafficking victims. Now, the couple and their young twin daughters are trying to create a new life in a country that feels foreign to all four of them. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Sophie Carson visited the family in their new home in San Alfonso, El Salvador. Carson joins WUWM Education Reporter Katherine Kokal to share her reporting.
What this episode covers
Last summer, a woman working as a teacher's aide at a public school in Milwaukee was forced to self deport to her native country of El Salvador. Yessenia Ruano and her husband Miguel Guerra chose uncertain safety over the constant fear of detainment, after a decade-old deportation order for Yessenia rose to the surface. Immigration officials did not honor her pending application for a visa reserved for trafficking victims. Now, the couple and their young twin daughters are trying to create a new life in a country that feels foreign to all four of them. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Sophie Carson visited the family in their new home in San Alfonso, El Salvador. Carson joins WUWM Education Reporter Katherine Kokal to share her reporting.
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A Milwaukee mother was forced to self-deport. A reporter followed to share her story
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