While the uneasy mix of panic and preparation weeks ago felt like a hurricane, there was one notable difference for the housekeeper in Miami. The store in her neighborhood seemed eerily empty. Already, she said, people were afraid to go out. She returned home with a plan. "I said, 'OK, you know what, we're going to keep the windows down, the blinds down. I don't want any noise. I want everybody to stay calm and try to turn off the lights in the living room, so if they come, they don't know that we are in the house,'" she said. "I know my rights. I know that I don't have to open the door. I know a lot of things, but even with that it's really scary." The woman shared her story with CNN but asked to be identified only by a pseudonym, Elena, out of fear she could face repercussions for speaking out. She said she came to the United States more than two decades ago on a visa, which she overstayed as she sought asylum. Elena lost her case but stayed in the United States, where she says she's built a life and grown her family. She's terrified of being separated from them. "This is a horrible feeling," she said Thursday. "These past two days, I've been waking up in the middle of the night. My husband says, 'What happened to you last night? You started screaming in your dream.'"