The government is only required to provide a lawyer for criminal cases, says the man who does not take me in his arms. Unlawful presence of an alien in the United States is a civil issue. You can get a lawyer but you must find this lawyer on your own and pay on your own.

But all the lawyers who come here. I haven’t yet had a chance to—

Look. I like you, Ms. Gloria Ramos, is it. I like you, Ms. Ramos. So I’m going to give you some advice. Sign this form. Do it for your daughter. Get yourselves out of here quickly and on with your lives.

But where do I go if I sign this? Do I go back to El Salvador?

Well, I don’t know. That I don’t know.

Do I see a judge and, you know, plead my case?

The man sighs. His face changes.

Listen, he says. If you want to make this harder for yourself then fine. But this is your last chance. You can sign this form and get out of here in no time or not. Up to you.

The blue-eyed man places the blue pen in front of me. I take it in my hand. Gloria Ramos, I sign. The man smiles again.

There are televisions in the common room, four of them, one in each corner. Two of them are set to children’s channels and two are set to adult channels. Of the adult channels, one is always a Spanish channel. That’s the one I watch every night.

When the news comes on, the guards change the channel, though sometimes we catch snippets. I think the guards don’t like the Spanish news because they are always talking about immigration. They show sad graphs like border crossings down, deportations way up. They show President Obama, who likes to smile a lot. President Obama, who answers questions and some of the people asking the questions smile back and some of them don’t. President Obama, who sometimes looks like he doesn’t like the questions. They interview a lot of experts in fancy offices. It’s bad for morale. That’s what they must think.