Hector didn’t want to have his picture taken, as he told us he had lost his wallet and didn’t have his papers to be in the U.S. legally.
My name is Hector. I'm from El Salvador. I'm 52. I came to the United States in 1991.
I'm here by the river because I lost my job and then, I lost my family.
I've been staying here for only like a couple of days. I'll try to get back to the motel I was living in when I find a job. It's quite expensive. I pay $1300 a month and that's for a single room.
I lost my restaurant job ... as a supervisor at a Red Robin and now I'm waiting to get my job back. I also worked as a supervisor in a carwash .
I had my own property for 20 years but now my wife and my son live there.
In the streets it just depends on who you surround yourself with. If you decide to be with bad people that's it, if you stay away from bad people, you'll be safe.
To be honest with you, Central American people, we don't like that, to get food stamps or Medicare … We don't like using the government to get something, you know, we El Salvadorans and Guatemalans we don't do that.
My son is just getting out of TMCC and then he's supposed to go to UNR … He doesn't know that I'm out here but he knows that I’ve been in the motel.