A custody record calls NICHA an unaccompanied minor although her father is close enough to call her name. Because he speaks Q'eqchi' rather than the language the system expects, a family becomes a mismatch and separation becomes procedure. Ida traces the substitution through interpreter lists, intake defaults, data fields, medical triage, sponsor rules, appeals, and locked records. NICHA's own counter-record preserves the language the system keeps replacing, while Ida's multiple sclerosis turns time, movement, and endurance into practical limits rather than symbols.
