LAKEWOOD - Alejandra Morales' phone rings all day.

Morales, president of the nonprofit La Voz Latina, is one of the few advocates that Latino families in Ocean County believe they can turn to for answers, such as the Spanish-speaking parent concerned about school funding. Or the day laborer without legal status who is owed $11,000 in wages but fears he will be deported if he complains too loudly.

Morales says the Trump administration's efforts to arrest and deport unauthorized immigrants have made her more resolute in her fight for immigrant rights in Lakewood — even though she doesn't have a green card and could be deported at any time.

"I'm not afraid of the police. I'm not afraid of Immigration (and Customs Enforcement) because I know I didn't come here to do harm," said Morales, which you can see in the video at the top of this story. The 37-year-old, who snuck across the Mexico-U.S. border two decades ago, added, "I came here to provide a better life for my children."

As a supporter of immigrant rights, the petite mother of three organizes protests and meets with public officials when she's not working in the Mexican restaurant she owns on Main Street.

She also feeds students in Lakewood Public Schools and provides seminars on immigration rights and gang prevention for Spanish-speaking families.



In the months after President Donald Trump took office, arrests of unauthorized immigrants have increased 38 percent from the same time last year, a USA Today review of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data found.

ICE officials say they are focusing on those with criminal records, but the number of arrests of unauthorized immigrants without a criminal record shot up 156 percent compared with the same time last year.

The video above shows how unauthorized immigrant parents who are afraid of deportation are seeking legal protections their children should they be separated.

Heather Mac Donald, a scholar at the conservative think tank Manhattan Institute, says that activists such as Morales who are unauthorized immigrants have "shamelessly" defied U.S. laws.

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"I don't know if she's being targeted, but she has no right to be here," Mac Donald said. "There is harm done to the rule of law from people who think that they are entitled to determine what our immigration policy is."

As Morales sees it, she contributes to her community, from saving her son from gang activity to helping families find legal services and keeping them informed of local politics.

"They shouldn't see us as delinquents," said Morales, a single mother of three. "Not all of us come to do harm in this country."

Journey to activist

Morales sat in her restaurant one morning in April with a red and white bandana over her head, ready to work. Her oldest son, 23-year-old Alejandro, also an unauthorized immigrant, was in the back making coffee for his mother. He declined to be interviewed for this story.

She said her advocacy started because of Alejandro.

It began with a phone call when he was 14, Morales said. The principal asked her to come to the middle school.

Alejandro was in a gang, the principal told her.

She confronted her son, who admitted to smoking marijuana and socializing with gang members.

Morales thought she had done everything right. She worked hard during the week — from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. — as the owner of a construction company to provide a decent living for their family. Her family had a house with a yard. They could afford to eat out at restaurants.

When Morales' company closed due to an issue with an associate, she took the opportunity to spend more time with her kids and work more closely with Lakewood's Latino youth. She supported her family by cleaning houses.

Ten years before that phone call, Morales was 17 and living in Mexico with Alejandro's father.

Morales said her boyfriend drank too much and used drugs often. She said they fought, and that he beat her.

She thought their problems would disappear if they found better-paying jobs in the U.S. Morales has a sister, an unauthorized immigrant who moved to Manchester.

That was in 1997. Morales and her partner, who was 21, tried to cross the border, getting caught in the desert multiple times by Border Patrol agents. Her boyfriend made it through first. It took Morales nine times to enter the country.

Her son, then a toddler, was smuggled in separately from his parents. He was brought into the country in a coyote's car. A "coyote" is a smuggler who moves people across the border for a fee.

They went to Arizona, then Los Angeles, where they were reunited with their son. Then they flew to New Jersey.

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They rented a small apartment in Manchester, and Morales found work cleaning houses.

Soon after, she says, reality sank in. There were well-paying jobs, but none that she qualified for because she didn't speak English. It was hard to save money when she was making little more than minimum wage and paying rent in New Jersey.

Alejandra and her then-partner had two more boys, Daniel and Jesus, both born American citizens. Relationship problems, though, continued. She left her kids' father, who was eventually deported to Mexico.

She carried on with her kids and found a new boyfriend whom she eventually married. She founded a construction company and was doing well.

As the years would go by the last thing Morales expected was to see her eldest son at risk of joining a gang — the kind of activity that makes immigrants prime targets for deportation under the Obama and Trump administrations.

To watch Alejandro, Morales got to know his friends and brought them food. Soon, she learned many others grew up seeing domestic violence or drugs in their homes.

"All of the parents who have domestic violence or drug issues in our families, we need to be cognizant that the ones who are most affected will be our kids," she said. "We want them to bear the fruits of our efforts when we come to this country."

She branched out to other students. She brought food to hundreds of students at Lakewood Public Schools. The first time, she spent upwards of $1,000 to make the meals. But in the years since she started, parents have donated juice, chicken and other food for her to cook for the public school kids.

What other parents could learn from Alejandra Morales:

Eventually, she joined other advocates in lobbying for more public school funding, organizing information sessions for Spanish-speaking parents and connecting locals to immigration lawyers and other services.

It's not just Lakewood's youth. Morales offers to care for unaccompanied minors who cross the border and help them reconnect with their families. A couple of weeks ago, she picked up a 16 year old from Guatemala, who had been walking through the desert alone. His own brother died while crossing the desert.

"I know a lot of women are sad and traumatized, but we're fighters," she said of other mothers. "We're the ones who have to be firm and help our families."

Setting fear aside

Over the past decade, Morales has joined local advocates in hosting events for Latino parents, from "Know Your Rights" seminars to a gang prevention event in April.

Hundreds of families packed the St. Anthony Claret church that night as two law-enforcement experts told them about the local gangs and the dangers they pose to recruits and their families.

It was one of the biggest crowds special agent Edwin Torres, one of the law enforcement experts leading the seminar, recalls seeing since he started conducting gang prevention sessions for the public in 2000.

"I saw a lot of hardworking, deeply concerned parents," said Torres, who works for the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation. "I saw a lot of innocent children. We all need to work on helping keep them on the straight and narrow."

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Morales saw the seminar as an opportunity to unite families and police at a time when many Latinos are afraid to approach authorities because of their immigration status.

"(They were) telling the kids that police aren't just here to respond to 911 calls," she said. "They can confide in police officials if they have concerns."

Saunjuhi Verma, a professor of labor studies at Rutgers University, said Morales' activism comes with risks with the new administration, but it also helps bring together other immigrants and allies.

"The important part to remember that speaking out is not only courageous, but it allows for some level of protection as well because that visibility allows for allies to come to the surface," Verma said.

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Morales' fear of losing her sons, ages 14, 19 and 23, to drugs, gang violence or a lack of education outweighs her fears of being confronted by police.

Morales takes pride in her eldest son's maturity and considers him a co-owner of La Casa de la Tia. Each morning, the two of them show up to the restaurant. He pays the bills, and she prepares traditional Mexican dishes for patrons.

When he's not paying bills or serving customers, Alejandro makes calls in English on behalf of the nonprofit La Voz Latina.

"My hope is that other parents could understand my experiences and could learn about it early," she said, "so they can save their children’s lives.”

Steph Solis: 732-403-0074; ssolis@gannett.com