As Storms Loom, Some Immigrant Families Wonder: Is It Safe to Seek Help?

Mr. McKinney’s employees were using social media to spread information about the storm that had been translated into Spanish, but worried that it was not reaching everyone who might need it. Ms. Garduño Garcia, the organizer, said that people living in trailer parks in North Carolina had received evacuation notices in English demanding that they leave their homes by midweek. But she said that many people stayed put, confused by conflicting information and the language barrier.

From her trailer home in Elgin, S.C., in the north-central part of the state, an immigrant woman named Maria said on Friday, before the worst of the storm, that she, her husband and their 15-year-old daughter were stocking up on canned food and water, but were still unclear about whether they were safe or needed to flee.

“We still haven’t received information about how much rain to expect,” she said. She was concerned that the trailer could be overcome by floodwaters or crushed by a fallen tree. “We don’t know how much it can handle. We’re trying to see where we can go, or if we should stay to see if things get more intense.”

Maria, who asked that her last name not be published because of her immigration status, said that her daughter’s high school had opened up a shelter and was giving out free meals, but that she did not feel comfortable going there. For one thing, she said, it would have meant leaving behind their two cats. The family would go to a friend’s house if they had to, she said, though she was not certain that they would be any safer there.

Over the weekend, many immigrants turned to informal networks of support to avoid interacting with the authorities. Leticia Zavala, a farm labor organizer in Dudley, N.C., said that 40 farm workers slept at her organization’s headquarters instead of going to shelters.

North Carolina is a major producer of sweet potatoes and tobacco. Some of the farm workers are undocumented; others have guest worker visas. But Ms. Zavala said that many were mindful of a handful of cases in the last year in which growers turned over migrant workers to the authorities for using false Social Security numbers.

Ms. Zavala said that most of these farm workers live in migrant housing, which is provided by growers and can vary from mobile homes that house six to eight people to barracks that accommodate hundreds.

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