Maria Morales is the mother of Honduran citizen Oswaldo Morales, who emigrated to New York City without documentation so he’d find work for his family back home. When Oswaldo was brutally attacked and nearly killed, left in an irreversible coma, he was deported back to Honduras in spite of his medical condition.
Maria was encouraged to take Oswaldo back to America with her so the prosecution would try his attackers. When the verdict only came back guilty of assault, which amounted to several years in prison, Maria was grief-stricken and said she only wanted her son back. She later pulled Oswaldo off life support, the prosecution lamenting if she knew American law, she’d know it meant the attackers could be tried for murder with a hate crime statute.