Undocumented immigrant. What do you see when you hear those words? Most Americans have a picture in their minds of undocumented people. They might imagine fruit pickers laboring under the hot sun. Or construction employees putting up a new high rise in Los Angeles or a new roof on a ranch house in Iowa. And, also, those struggling to keep up with fast moving lines in a meat packing plant. All undocumented immigrants in the average person’s mind are Mexican. In reality, those immigrants are much more diverse than that. They also arrive from Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Europe. Students, tech workers, doctors, entrepreneurs, and nurses join the ranks of the undocumented when their visas expire or are not renewed, but they choose to stay. All of these people, regardless of origin or job, should be valued and respected as human beings
There is another kind of diversity among undocumented immigrants in the form of mixed status families. Many Americans are totally unaware of the suffering many of their fellow US citizens go through because they love undocumented immigrants: spouses, children, parents, friends. There are millions of these mixed status families. Perhaps a spouse is undocumented while the other spouse is a citizen. US citizen children often have an undocumented parent. Sometimes it is a grandparent or adult child who lacks legal status. Over the past five years, I have tried to be an advocate for undocumented immigrants and those who love them.
This is my first diary. I have seen diaries that are straight news, photos, opinion, personal essays, and cartoons. My strong suit is poetry, so I’m going to use a few of my poems in hope of showing some of the diversity of undocumented people, and the effects our broken immigration system has on them and many US citizens. I want to make the point that all humans have intrinsic value. These poems are all about real people and events — names omitted.
CHECK-IN EVE
He stirs restlessly.
Half awake, he rolls over
to spoon his wife.
His arm closes on nothing.
A thought shatters his sleep.
ICE.
But then he sits up and remembers
he is in his own bed.
He slips down the hall
to the baby’s room,
and peers in.
She rocks their daughter
and softly sings a Vietnamese lullaby.
He has never before loved so much
as he loves these two.
He has never before
had anyone who loved him
until the day he met this gentle woman.
But she has overstayed her visa;
tomorrow is her ICE check-in day.
He kisses the top of his wife’s head.
He wonders if she even knows
how much peril she faces.
He knows he will not sleep again tonight.
MEMORIAL DAY PARADE
No marching bands,
no prancing ponies,
no float riders tossing Tootsie rolls.
Just the Stars and Stripes,
and a pair of empty combat boots.
A group of war veterans marches behind,
hands raised in salute.
Warriors who risked their lives
in Vietnam, Desert Storm,
Afghanistan, and Iraq.
But they don’t march down Main Street
in small town USA.
This parade trails through Tijuana.
These soldiers have been deported
to live out their lives
far from home and family.
AMERICANS FIRST
“Three illegal immigrants are detained in the county jail,” reports a distinguished local news anchor.
She hits the remote.
The screen goes black.
Online news headline:
“ICE plans massive workplace raids.”
She presses the home button, slides the phone away.
She once felt proud to be an American citizen, but now... mind racing… “I hate ICE. I hate 45.”
She clenches her eyes tight to stop the tears.
Sleep is the only escape.
Lying in bed, she counts backward from one hundred to slow her thoughts.
Blissful peace...for one hour.
The nightmare arrives.
This time, it’s in an airport:
the man - the kindest, most courageous, smartest man she has ever known-
handcuffed and shackled, surrounded by agents.
Sudden wakefulness crashes her back to the real nightmare.
She presses her face into the pillow, weeps.
There is no escape from the endless fear.
STILL UNDOCUMENTED
She discusses the road construction
with the Lyft driver
on the ride to work.
On the elevator,
a co-worker compliments her trendy suit.
She calls her team to order,
and lays out details of the week’s projects.
No one would guess her secret.
Her husband teases her
for not getting a driver’s license.
Her Social Security Number
doesn’t match her name.
The IRS will never tell;
money is money.
Twenty-five years ago,
she overstayed a tourist visa.
Despite attaining success,
despite her loving husband and kids,
she still can’t stop
looking over her shoulder.
COLD AS ICE
Two college students on a road trip home,
Laughing, talking, singing along to their playlist,
Windows open, their voices waft out
Into the night-chilled desert air.
Then, a wrong turn.
The young man brakes to turn around,
But before he can,
Flashing lights appear in the rearview mirror.
Two men approach.
But these are not the friendly faces
Of state troopers ready to offer assistance.
Cold eyes peer into the car.
ICE.
The young man presents his California
Undocumented immigrant driver’s license;
The woman, an American citizen, shows her ID.
The officers handcuff her boyfriend,
Push him into their SUV.
They don’t care that she is alone and afraid
On a lonely desert road.
It doesn’t matter that he is an honors student.
They don’t care that he volunteers at a hospital,
And with a church youth group.
It doesn’t matter that she loves him,
And can barely see through the tears to drive.
They don’t care he has known no other country
Since he was nine years old.
Cold as ICE.
NINETY-TWO MEN
Ninety-two Somali immigrants.
A deportation flight gone wrong.
Forty hours in a jet;
Handcuffs fastened to their waists,
Feet shackled.
A request to use the bathroom
results in being kicked, beaten, and dragged.
At last, they are taken from the plane,
back to detention.
In solitary confinement, the toilets overflow.
Detainees ask for a mop,
but instead are pepper-sprayed.
Choking for air, lungs strangling,
the guards beat them
and shout racial slurs.
No recourse exists
in the private detention center.
(Some of these poems have been previously published under my real name, but I retain all rights).
To help:
www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org
unitedwedream.org
www.americanfamiliesunited.org
www.raicestexas.org/…
www.lahuelga.com (Cosecha)