Stephanie Ortigoza
In 2011, more than 40.4 million immigrants were living in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trend Project. Undocumented immigrants constitute about 11.1 million with 63 percent living in the United States for 10 years or longer, according to American Progress.
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the bill that which gave amnesty to many undocumented immigrants. Many of them were settled in the U.S and had the opportunity to obtain their papers during the amnesty, but because of various circumstances missed their chance. Now they have to wait for another immigration reform.
Congress now is divided into whether they should imitate a similar bill to that signed by of Reagan or a bill with stricter conditions. The immigration bill made history four months ago when the Senate passed it, which elevated the hopes of many of the immigrants. However, if it is approved, the downside would affect undocumented workers who have to learn English and take a rigorous exam to become legal residents and should have filed taxes in previous years.
Michaela Cisneros has been living in the shadows for more than 15 years in the United States. She came from Mexico when she was 20 with a student visa which she received immediately because she was a college student majoring in Social Work. However, she had an excuse to come to the United States.
“Some of my family members were already living in the United States so I decided to visit them,” she said in Spanish.
Six months after her visa expired, she worked at a factory and took English classes simultaneously, planning to live although she planned on living illegally until her father, a U.S citizen, petitioned for her.
“Taking [English classes and working at the factory] were hard because I worked for long hours at the factory and then I had to go to my English classes. I was not used to working in Mexico and doing both was hard,” Cisneros said.
She got married to an undocumented man and soon finally had a family, but soon US Citizenship and Immigration Services found out that she was married.
“They told me that because of my marital status my father could not petition for me and that I had to wait for a response,” she said, “I have waited for 13 years and still there is no response.”
It has been more than 15 years since she visited Mexico and is the only one out of her five siblings in the U.S who is undocumented. Also, she continues to visit her lawyer for a response, but tells her that she has to wait for Immigration Services to call her.
“I hope I can get my papers soon. The first thing I would do when I get my papers I visit my friends and family,” she said.
Today, the growth of the United States undocumented population has slightly decreased from 2007 to 2011 when it estimated about 12 million, but decreased to 11.1 and remained steady, according to American Progress.
Carmelo Cruz crossed the border to Chula Vista, California with a friend and family member at age 17. He came during the time of the 1986 amnesty and then moved to New York and had an opportunity to get his papers.
“At that time, I was young and I did not care so much about the amnesty. I thought ‘Who cares?’ But also, I did not know what was going on so I just left it,” he said in Spanish.
He said that after some time passed by, some of his friends got their papers and told him that he should get his papers. And he tried to do so.
“I went to visit some lawyers and they told me I needed a proof of address or something that proved that I was working here, but I left all of that back at Los Angeles and since I didn’t have any of those I couldn’t fix my papers,” he said.
He began to work at a restaurant, where his boss was helping workers obtain their papers. Cruz went to see a lawyer, and continued the whole process to get his papers in order at his job but the lawyer who said the process it would take a lot of time. Then, the restaurant closed and his boss could no longer help him continue to fix his papers.
“After the restaurant closed, I visited several lawyers and they promised they would help me. They said even if the restaurant closed, your boss can still help you fix your papers. I trusted them, but they lied to me. They deceived me,” he said.
The lawyers lied to Cruz, promising to help him because they wanted his money.
Then he went to work at another restaurant and the boss told him that he couldn’t do anything regarding fixing his status. Today, he is still undocumented and has three children, two daughters ages 17 and 10 and a son who is 13.
“I am waiting for my daughter to turn 21 so that she can petition for my wife and me,” he said.