WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Wendy Ortiz was surprised to find out she was being fined by U.S. immigration authorities for being in the country illegally - but it was the amount that truly shocked her: $1.8 million.
Ortiz, 32, who earns $13 an hour in her job at a meatpacking plant in Pennsylvania, has lived in the United States for a decade, after fleeing El Salvador to escape a violent ex-partner and gang threats, she said in an interview and in immigration paperwork. Hersalary barely covers rent and expensesfor her autistic 6-year-old U.S.-citizen son.
