Confessions From An Illegal Immigrant
By: Edward Anderson
Tags: Race, True Crime, Family, Equality, Politics

Family Matters

Ty insists he didn’t mean to break the law. His wife was pregnant when his Visa was up. She’s a U.S. citizen and he’s not. The pregnancy was tough on them as a couple and on his wife’s body. Some of their extended family stepped in to help.

As is often the case, that help came with an added dose of more trouble. “My mother-in-law suggested that we aren’t a real couple. That I just married her for a Green Card.” Ty is incredulous at the suggestion. He points to the pregnancy as proof that they are a real couple.

When he finishes a beer, he orders another. He continues to blast his mother-in-law’s insinuation that his marriage is one of convenience. “We have a son for God’s sake.” Once prodded, Ty admits that he made a mistake by letting his Green Card lapse.

“It wasn’t something I was thinking about,” after a drink. “But there is something to be said for this being the best country in the world. I felt right at home.”

Illegally Yours

Ty staying in the country is illegal and putting his family in danger. This is something that he has been tormented with. As he watched news reports of brown people being targeted by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he worried about what would happen to his family.

Then a close call happened. He walked past ICE officers who were stopping a “Latino family. The father was quite angry and swearing in Spanish.” One of the agents looked right at Ty.

“Everything went black. A pit formed in my stomach, I was a wreck.”

Instead of asking to see his papers, the officer told Ty to move along. “There was nothing to see there. That’s what he told me. It was because of the color of my skin that I wasn’t stopped. That I am certain of.”

While there is no concrete policy excluding white people from being arrested and/or deported, Trump has made it clear that his intention is to get rid of people of color.

During an Oval Office meeting, Trump is quoted as saying “Haiti? Why do we want people from Haiti here?” Then they got Africa. ‘Why do we want these people from all these shithole countries here? We should have more people from places like Norway.”

The countries he questioned and insulted are populated with people of color. While Norway is notoriously white.

Family Concerns

Over the past four years, there has been much hand wringing about tearing families apart. Democrats have pushed back against the racist immigration policy set forth by the Trump administration. They argue that it is unfairly targeting people of color, especially Latin families.

Ty walked away from the family being arrested but watched as the mother and father were put in handcuffs, in front of three small children. The image of the crying kids haunts him.

“What if my son saw me being put into handcuffs? Those people weren’t doing anything wrong, they were just living their lives. I go to work and do what I’m supposed to but I could be arrested and torn away from my family at any time.”

It is true that families are being torn apart. Much was written about the children that were put in cages in 2019. Outrage swept across much of the country with very few people supporting Trump in his policy.

“My wife is a citizen, which makes my son a citizen. But I am scared of what would happen to them if I were arrested. Would my son end up in a cage? It would kill me if he was ripped away from me.”

A fear many people can relate to.