A few days ago, Pedro Ramirez was in the news. He was mentioned in at least one diary here at dailyKos.
Ramirez, who came to U.S. at the age of 3, said he did not know he was not a citizen until he was a senior in high school. As long as he can remember, he said, his parents -- a maid and a restaurant worker -- have told him he must work hard and achieve the American dream. He said they did not tell him he was not born in this country until he began applying to universities.
I had a hunch that this was not an uncommon event. This thought was fueled in part by the experience of Wilhelm Voigt.
Voigt's story was an aside in Cornelius Ryan's account of D-Day. Not many facts to work with, other than he was a young married man who had grown up in Chicago. Like Pedro, he considered himself an American, he was an American, only he didn't have the papers to prove it. He ended up back in Germany, having returned in 1940 to rescue his wife, who had gone back to care for her dying mother. Instead of rescuing, he was in need of being rescued. He couldn't prove he was an American without naturalization papers. The Nazis drafted him. On D-Day, he was hoping for the opportunity to surrender to one of his fellow Americans. But were these just two rare events? I backed off of it in recent posts, but I continued to dig around the internet. My initial hunch was correct. Contrary to the opinion of some, this is not unique. Pedro's experience is not even the most extreme recent example of what happens to a subset of immigrants, the children. What do we find at myimmigrationstory.com? Forgive me if this site is well known to my fellow Kossacks. I selected a few stories from the dozens there.
I was brought to San Diego when I was 2 years old. I used to think I was an American. I never knew I was illegal until I was 15. I was going on a choir field trip and was happy for once because I was going to Disney Land. My mom finally told me I was illegal and my life went down. I risked it and went to Disney. After that I told my close friends I was Illegal. They made fun of me. Since then I have gone to L.A twice but I have always been scared because of the border patrol. I am a high school dropout because I was made fun of and students always told me, "why graduate if you have no future here". I was stupid for listening to them. I am trying to finish School. I work. I am kind of happy that I live here in San Diego. I love it. But I wish I was free and can go beyond San Diego. I feel trapped, like if I’m in a cage. I don't want to get deported. I don't know Mexico or my family over there. I know Spanish but cannot speak it good. I tried fixing my legal status but it’s really expensive and usually they take away your money and tell you it’s impossible and get ripped off. I want to be set free. I have no criminal record, never had. I want to travel and don't want to be scared everyday no more.
Edgar
San Diego
My parents brought me here when I was 4 along with my brother to Burbank CA. My dad left us a few months later. Growing up I never realized really my status till I turned about 16 when all my friends started working and driving. I’m tuning 21 in a month and I’ve applied for resident card a long time ago. I just found out they want to send me back to Mexico.
Alex
Los Angeles, CA
My sister and I were born in the UK, when I was three we moved to the USA, my father had a job offer there, my other four brothers and sisters were all born in the USA. I turned 21, my father still didn't have his green card, the paper work was so slow, and I have had to move back to the UK. My parents both recently became citizens, so now they can sponsor to return to the USA, however it will take eight years due to processing times. I feel American, my bothers and sisters are American, my parents are American, they have jobs and pay tax, I am not a American, and because of this I can not see my family or friends. I feel as if I am being punished when I have done nothing wrong.
F
Saugus, MA
I was brought to the US by my biological mother when I was 3 in 1984. She abandoned me and left me with family. I grew up in the USA. My adopted mother was granted guardianship over me in 1989. The adoption went through but not for immigration purposes. My adopted mother file every application you can think of to change my status but to no avail. I lived in the USA for 23 years. Everything I know is from the USA. I know nothing about my birth country. I am the only child my adopted mother has. I had no choice but to return to my birth country to see if I can return with status in the USA, but it has been so hard. What I can't understand is why they gave me an Alien # but no card. They gave me a Texas birth certificate and ITIN number and I cant use them for anything. I am now 28 years old stuck in a country I don’t know anything about. I feel that they need to have a program where they can help people like us with our immigration problem that no lawyer can help with.
Lavern
Texas
Heartbreaking stuff. At what point do we get change in such a system? This is a nation composed to a large extent of the descendants of immigrants. Regardless of how we feel about the larger issue of immigration, in this one small subset of the issue, shouldn't we try to alleviate this heartache?