When I was in show bidness my only contact with immigration issues was with an actor friend of mine from Canada who paid a woman to marry him so he could stay in the country. Of course he fell in love with her and the whole thing ended terribly for everyone.
When I was in entertainment software I had to worry if my Pakistani lead programmer would be deported if I fired him. Be the good guy and worry about his young American born daughter or be the hard ass and get rid of him for incompetence?
Now that I only work part time in a restaraunt I have seen the grittier side of immigration up close so I wanted to share this story with you.
Gloria is a very hardworking woman at our restaraunt. She makes all of the salads and never stops working for a second. While the rest of us find time for gabbing or slacking she can always find another task to do. She is very well respected amongst the mostly Mexican kitchen staff.
One day last week during the employee meal I was bringing up the immigration issue AGAIN, starting by joking about the May 1st boycott and saying that a friend asked for one good reason to support immigration and I answered "Shakira", which isn't true but made for a nice joke. I brought up Delores Huerta's comments in Arizona and shared how I was at the rally in San Francisco when she got her spleen ruptured by a policeman. Some others talked slightly personally and then Gloria shared her story.
She said, "When I came here...I walked in the mud and it went up to my knee."
Me: You weren't legal?
No...I walk for one and a half days. When I cross the, how you say 'board'?" "Border" said Marta, a lovely American born but Mexican raised woman. "Yes, the border. When I get to the hotel my feet were cut all over the bottom, my socks were filled with blood."
I was surprised that she was getting so personal but I can sort of bring that out in people so they can get me to shut up. She continued, "I was illegal until the amnesty in '86. Was that Reagan? Clinton?" "Reagan" I said. "Yes, I was eligible for the Amnesty because I had been here for eleven years and worked. I was married and had my oldest son so I got my papers. And last year I become citizen. I thought that I do not need this, it will all be the same except a piece of paper but my son say, 'Momma you need to do it because you are wet'" We all laughed. I said, "So you had to answer questions most Americans don't know." Gloria said, "Yes, I was so nervous I did not sleep the night before but I answer the questions like how many stars and stripes on the flag but the man who raise the hand and hold the bible? I do not understand what he say."
Because of her American passport Gloria can go back and visit Mexico whenever she wants so she vacations in Puerto Vallarta and Xihauntanejo.. She visits her grandma and comes back, few questions asked
Im not sure how I feel about amnesty and I despise how American corporations are using Mexicans as a peon class but Im glad that Gloria walked through the mud for a day and half and Im glad she raised her hand to take an oath she didn't quite understand.
But then I really like her salads.