To Be An American. Bill Ong Hing
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Название: To Be An American

Автор: Bill Ong Hing

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: История

Серия: Critical America

isbn: 9780814773246

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ to represent a black South African who was granted asylum because of apartheid.

      But over the years, most of those I have represented in deportation proceedings have been Mexican nationals. Representing Mexicans in deportation proceedings always came naturally. The vast majority of my Mexican clients reminded me of neighbors, friends, and grocery store customers from Superior. They were gracious, honest, hardworking, friendly, grateful, and committed to their families. They appreciated my limited Spanish-speaking ability.

      I recall introducing my wife, a Chinese American raised in San Francisco Chinatown, to a Mexican family I was representing shortly after our marriage in 1976. The family had been subjected to a harrowing, abusive raid by INS agents at 5 a.m. one morning, and I needed to get a better idea of what had transpired by visiting them at their home in San Jose, California. So on a Sunday afternoon, my wife and I drove to San Jose to call on the family. My wife had had little contact with Mexicans—or any Latinos for that matter—growing up. She was aware of my legal work conceptually, but had never met any of my clients. Over the course of the afternoon, as she experienced my clients’ warmth, generosity, and hospitality, my wife became their strongest advocate for resisting deportation. How in the world, she asked, could they be hurting anyone; and why in the world would the INS want to deport such a decent family? After a struggle that took almost a decade, I was able to obtain lawful permanent residence status for the entire family.

      Most of my clients have been Mexican because Mexicans have long been the focus of INS enforcement priorities. Of the 1,327,259 deportable aliens located by the INS in 1993, 95.6 percent (1,269,294) were Mexican nationals,1 in spite of the fact that by all estimates Mexicans make up less than half of the undocumented population in the United States. So anyone willing to represent low-income immigrants as I have over the years will naturally have a caseload that is substantially Mexican.

      Take the case of Rodolfo Martinez Padilla.2 Rodolfo was a client of the Immigration Law Clinic which I directed at the Stanford Law School. In the fall of 1993, with the assistance of students enrolled in the clinic, Rodolfo, who was in deportation proceedings, succeeded in having those proceedings suspended and was granted lawful permanent resident status. To qualify, Rodolfo had to establish continuous physical presence in the United States for at least seven years, good moral character, and extreme hardship if deportation had been ordered.3

      I first met Rodolfo in 1987, and found his work record, his worldview, and his attitudes about the United States typical of the thousands of immigrants—especially Mexicans—I have represented, been consulted about, or grew up with in Superior. His story and those of other Mexican immigrants are important because much of the current debate over immigration is about Mexican immigration.

      Rodolfo’s family and circumstances surrounding his migration to the United States are not unusual. Born in 1963 in a small town in the state of Michoacan in northern Mexico, Rodolfo, accompanied by his uncles, first crossed the border at the age of ten. He returned to Mexico but came back to the United States in 1979 with his parents and siblings. Since then they have lived in the East Palo Alto/Redwood City area, which is about thirty miles south of San Francisco. Rodolfo attended one year of public high school in 1980. His entire immediate family—his father, mother, two older brothers, one older sister, two younger sisters, and a younger brother—resides in the United States. Most of the family became lawful permanent residents through the legalization (amnesty) program of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). Rodolfo is married and has two U.S. citizen children (one from a prior relationship); he sees and cares for both of them regularly. He acts as a constant mentor and “big brother” to his nephews and nieces. The entire family has regular get-togethers, picnics, and barbecues. Except for his mother, all the adults in Rodolfo’s family have paying jobs. None has ever received public assistance.

      Rodolfo’s employment history may be of particular interest to people concerned with the impact that immigrants such as Rodolfo have on the labor market. As with many immigrants, the family’s primary method of finding jobs is through word of mouth and mutual help. Rodolfo and his family have a very strong and active network of friends and family that they rely on to hear about and to get work. At just about every place Rodolfo has worked, some family member has been employed at some point in time. Rodolfo always has his ears open for new opportunities, and the community is a vitally active highway of information. If someone loses a job, friends help with loans and a new job search.

      Rodolfo has done a fair amount of “pavement pounding,” going from business to business and filling out applications. He says that when he was young he would get on a bus and go to San Jose (about fifty miles south of San Francisco). He would apply for work in establishments along the main boulevard—El Camino Road—the entire route home. Sometimes he would fill out six applications a day. Although he reads the newspaper, he has not used it to get information about jobs. Current and former employers always gave Rodolfo a good reference for prospective new employers. Often Rodolfo has held two jobs at the same time in order to better support his family.

      A chronicle of Rodolfo’s jobs and job-finding methods is illuminating:

      1. He secured his first job at a restaurant, Le Lumiere in Menlo Park, through his father and his uncle who both worked there. His father got the Le Lumiere job from his brother (Rodolfo’s uncle) who was working there previously. When his uncle quit, his job was given to Rodolfo’s father. Rodolfo initially started working there to help his father for free.4 He was working as a dishwasher when the owners noticed and liked his work more than they liked his father’s work. Although Rodolfo was young and still in high school, they fired his father and gave him the job. The wife of the owner of Le Lumiere owned another restaurant, Carol’s, and she asked Rodolfo to work there as well. Rodolfo would work at Carol’s in the morning and Le Lumiere in the afternoons and evening. Rodolfo dropped out of high school when he was eighteen because he was working very long hours (sixteen hours a day) and felt that he could not go to school at the same time. He started working at the age of seventeen in 1980. He left these jobs because of the long hours and he felt that he was not earning enough money. Each place paid about $100 per week. His bosses offered to pay him more money, but he felt that the raise was not enough to compensate him for the number of hours he was working. His departure was amicable; later when he needed a recommendation for his job at the Discount Club, these employers were happy to provide it. Rodolfo also knew that he could make more money working in the kitchen of a restaurant rather than just washing dishes. He looked for and found jobs in restaurants where he would start out as a dishwasher, but eventually have the opportunity to work in the kitchen.

      2. Rodolfo found the job at Wata, a drug manufacturer, by going to an unemployment office in San Mateo where jobs are posted. He had no problem getting access to these listings in spite of the fact that he was asked for a green card, by providing proof that he and his family had been in the United States for a long time and that he had attended school here. His mastery of English was very helpful in this situation. Rodolfo worked at Wata inspecting pills, but had to leave because he became allergic to the chemicals. He was paid about $150 per week at Wata.

      3. Between his job at Wata and his job at Spiral, Rodolfo worked at Andre’s Restaurant. This was one of the restaurants where he worked up to helping in the kitchen. He eventually left Andre’s because they were not paying him enough money. He was paid about $150 per week. In general, he usually left restaurant jobs because a better opportunity made itself available. For some time he worked at Spiral in the morning and at Andre’s at night.

      4. Spiral Engineering hired Rodolfo first as a janitor then as a machine operator because his sister worked there as a supervisor. Other family members were already working there: his aunt, mother, and father. His boss regarded Rodolfo as one of his best and most conscientious workers, and was sorry to see Rodolfo leave СКАЧАТЬ