7A
NEWS/QE^e Ci^arlotte l$ait
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Dlegals uneasy in U.S.
Continued from page 2A
back of your, head all the
time, all the time.”
• And so is stress.
• ‘Tf you ask me whether I
■ ever relax 100 percent, I
would say, “No.’ On a scale of
one to 10,1 would say I some
times I get to an eight...You
hear a knock on the door and
you think it’s the INS, but it’s
just a firefighter. When you
see police officers outside
, your building, you think they
might be escorting the INS.
When you see somebody new
on your job, you think it’s
someone to put you in shack
les.”
• Because of her immigration
status, Michele agreed to tell
• her story to the NNPA News
Service only imder conditions
of anon3Tnity.
She came to the U. S. with a
friend on a visitation ^Tsa,
planning to stay only six
months. During those six
months, she found a job and
an apartment on the East
Coast. She has held the same
job ever since, sharing her
secret with only a few of her
co-workers and her employer.
She says her boss heis chosen
to risk keepir^ her because
she is a faithful worker and
they know it would be
extremely difficult for her to
obtain other employment.
Her life away from the job
revolves around window
shopping, reading in the
park, going to movies and
relaxing in her home. At
times, she has to guard her
language, like when she’s on
the bus.
She’s he£ird another pas
senger say, “I would have a
seat if these illegal immi
grants would just get off the
bus. ” Michelle says, “It hurts.
It hurts. It breaks my heart.
And we can’t even say any
thing back.”
Shanta Ramson, a
►JVashington lawyer who spe-
■pializes in immigration,
. Jj^lains; “There is no law in
i place right now. Right now,
‘there is no law on the books
that can help her.”
Recent immigration
reforms have failed to pass
Congress, including a reform
proposed by President Bush
that would allow the 11 to 12
million undocumented work
ers in the U. S. to gain tem
porary legal status.
Michele’s biggest dream is
to go to college in the U. S.
and earn a business degree.
But, being illegal, she could
n’t even qualify for student
aid.
. “We want better jobs, we
want to go to college, we want
opportunity, we want a piece
of the pie too, ” she says.
And thafs not all MicheUe
wants. She wants freedom to
visit home to visit relatives,
including a 15-month old
nephew.
“I wish I could see him in
his young tender age, where
you can hug him and kiss
him and bite up his cheeks,”
she says, smiling.
She regularly speaks to her
mother by phone. Once, she
came to visit and Michele
delighted in her mother’s
company for weeks, but the
airport departure was
unbearable. “We cried so
hard. I cried long,” she
recalls.
Experts say that not aU
immigrants are treated
equally. Those from Haiti, for
example, encounter more dif
ficulty obtaining legal status
in the U. S. than others, such
as Cuba.
Donald J. Hernandez, pro
fessor of sociology at the
University of Albany and an
expert on immigration and
diversity, says the difference
in treatment is more about
the United States’ relation
ship with that particular
nation than it is about race.
“It really is very coimtry-
specific. Cuba has been a
favored coimtry because of
the cold war,” Hernandez
says. “People from Trinidad
and Ibbago have not had that
favor, per se because they
have not had that geo-pohti-
funds slavery study
I JTH/CAGO DEFENDER
I' CHICAGO - State legislators are hopeful that a study to be
r released in the spring provide a clear picture of the nega-
^ tive effects of the transatlantic slave trade on Black Americans.
At a news conference last week, community leaders and five
' black legislators annoimced the establishment of the Illinois
• QVansatiantic Slave Trade Commission.
- - A 2005joint resolution funded a $400,000 grant to the Center
»for Inner City Studies of Northeastern Illinois University,
• where elected officials and members of the 25-member com-
'• mission discussed their plans improvfe the lives of those histor
ically disadvantaged due to the slave trade.
.. Ihe commission includes Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, state leg
islators and researchers and scholars from all over the country.
“’We want to find out what really happened to African
i Americans and what vestiges of slavery remain -with us today,”
' said Anderson Thompson, director of research for the project.
The study will address the impact of politics, economics, edu
cation and societal issues on the Transatlantic slave trade and
■ slavery by examirung the institution of slavery from 1619 to
• 1865, federal and state government support of slavery and dis
crimination by law in the public and private sectors against
' Africans.
#
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cal importance.”
Ramson, the immigration
lawyer, says marriage to an
American could open the door
to begin application for legal
status. But Ramson empha
sizes, that is only in cases of
“good faith marriages; not for
fraudulent purposes or to cir
cumvent the immigration
law.”
Americans view Trinidad •
and Tbbago as a vacation or
retirement destination with
palm trees, coconut milk,
mangos, and beaches with
blue water. Though Trinidad
and Tbbago is one of the
wealthiest countries in the
Caribbean, largely because of
its oil and gas reserves, its
per capita income is only
$10,440 a year. The prospect
of a better standard of living
for immigrants - legal and
illegal - is one of the attrac
tions of the U.S.
The worse case scenario, if
Michelle ever gets deported,
she must wait as many as 10
years before being eligible to
apply for a Visa.
“I want hope. I want hope.
If God would just open up the
windows of heaven and say
that there’s a new start, I
want to be free so I can come
out and soar like an eagle,”
she says. ‘You try your best to
kind of like blank it out. But
you can’t blank it out because
you never know what is going
to happen when enforcement
comes.”
Reunion
Continued from page 1A
In addition to Earle
Village’s reunion. Stay Alive
Past 25 wiU remember the
families of violent crime vic
tims at the park. The family
fim day starts at 8 a.m. with
volleyball and basketball
tournaments as well as rap
pers and steppers.
For information on the
reunion, call Malik TUlman
at (704) 890-0408 or 334-
0393. For Stay Alive Past 25,
caU (704) 353-1246 or 719-
4416 to register.
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