Illegals

By Laura Lavayén

Illegals is a novel about a subject that has always been very polemic. The author creates the characters trying to make them look real and human. They are all bonded by one same common situation: forgers of documents, a good lawyer, the coyotes and an immigration agent as well as the different reasons for them to be illegals, a struggle which brings them together until the end of the book.

The characters and their own stories are a work of fantasy of the author, however many people may have lived similar situations or may know someone who has experienced them. In fact, many persons experience this, not only in the United States but also in other countries. Many of them were forced to leave their families and their home countries for different reasons. For those humble workers who come without any malice but with one only idea, which is to work honestly, everything is more difficult. Especially when the only arm that they have is their innocence, which sometimes they loose to become cunning in order to run away from the authorities and the people that exploit them and take advantage of their naivet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jun 25, 2007
• ISBN: 9781490761336

Laura Lavayén

Laura Lavayén, an American-Argentinean writer born in the touristic city of Bariloche, Argentina, lived in Buenos Aires before coming to Philadelphia in 1965, but never broke ties with the family in her native country. Her literary career began as a little girl writing stories that her mother thought she was copying from magazines or books. In her twenties, Lavayén won a prize in a literary contest in Argentina with a short novel. In the United States, she published a debut three novels during the 70’s and 80’s. Now retired, she has written three non-fi ction books and two of fi ction, all published in English and Spanish: The Shadow of the Baron, Hello Buenos Aires... Chao Buenos Aires, Hello USA!, Illegals, and Dogs, Owners of the City. Lavayén splits her time between the United States, most of the year, and Argentina, in the winter.

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Copyright 2007 Laura Lavayén.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4251-1406-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-6133-6 (e)

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Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 Mirna

Chapter 2 Edelmira

Chapter 3 Carmen

Chapter 4 Mariana

Chapter 5 The Meetings

Chapter 6 Rosa

Chapter 7 The Most Wanted Lawyer

Chapter 8 Suspicions

Chapter 9 New Leads

Chapter 10 The Waiting

Chapter 11 Disillusions

Chapter 12 November

Chapter 13 Confessions

Chapter 14 December

Introduction

Every time I hear about the problems faced by people who want to immigrate to this country I realize how fortunate I was for having immigrated when I did. I remember that I started the procedures sometime in July and by October I was already here. I don’t know if, at the time, it was the same for everybody, but two years later, the doors to immigration started to close a little and it became more difficult to obtain a visa.

I came to the United States through an agency with a branch in Buenos Aires and another in Philadelphia. I signed a contract that outlined the expectations of an immigrant coming to work in the States and my duties and obligations, as well as those of my employers. They paid my health care insurance and travel expenses. This amount was later deducted little by little, plus half of my social insurance. It was an arrangement, which benefited both parties and also a legal way to immigrate without burdening the government or anyone else-a fair agreement good for both employer and worker.

Even when escaping my own problems, I had to face a kind of life for which I was not prepared. One must always give up something in exchange for attaining certain goals. I was forced to leave my family behind and also to learn that my wages were less than those paid to a citizen of that country. But we quickly realized that the dollar is a strong currency and could be multiplied in exchange for our money. We also knew that if we honoured the contract but were not happy, the agency would look for another job for us. A health certificate and a criminal record check were required to obtain a work contract. The agency that brought us even recommended that we attend classes to learn basic language skills and also to give us an idea of what to expect upon arrival in this country.

After two years I was set free to search for another job wherever I wanted. During that transition year, we had to be prepared to decide in which direction to go, already having established a strong base. Probably it was the exodus of illegal immigrants that made everything reach the chaotic point where we are presently.

I agree that a country must protect its borders, but I can also put myself in the shoes of those who cross those borders illegally. But, why did Immigration take so much time to arrest the people who profited and became rich by charging enormous amounts of money to help them across?

The fact of illegal border crossing has always been known but they chose to ignore it. Some people are right when they say that the economy is not sustainable without the cheap labor of those who did just that, because being illegal, they had no rights to claim the salary they deserve. And what is happening with the countries that allowed their citizens to transgress those borders, sometimes without even having a job or the certainty that they will survive the crossing? We all know that nobody would allow his own people to risk so much if it were not urgently needed. A human being needs to survive and will continue to confront any danger if hunger and hardship forces him to do so.

For many people, the word illegal is synonymous with Mexican, but there are people from all over the world in that category_and not all illegals are people who come to work. There are those who are in that situation for many different reasons.

In this book, I will try to show just a small part of what is happening. There are stories, which I heard about, and those whose protagonists I got to meet, as well as enough material to write many books. I only want to write the story of some of those human beings that left their own country, their family and friends, who ran away from the hunger that they also suffered here for the sole reason that they did not have a piece of paper to give them legal status. A paper that would allow them to enjoy the American dream as they deserve to, because they arrived with a backpack full of hopes and a great longing to work and earn their livelihood honestly.

But there are those who immigrated with other goals, such as the drug cartel kings, or those who have come with evil intentions. That is why we should not be angry if there is no more amnesty granted to those working without a permit, as it was sometimes done before, and God willing, another opportunity will come for it again. But I do not believe that today it will be easy to obtain that.

Certainly we must fight so that all of us will be given the opportunity of sharing the freedom and the economy of this land that has been so generous for so long. Hopefully, the United States of America will not stop opening its doors to those who are searching for a better life.

I hope that our countries will also succeed in the creation of jobs, so that all those who do not want to immigrate may realize their dream of a better life without being forced to disrupt their families.

Chapter 1

Mirna

Mirna finished her duties at the public service office and, as she did everyday, walked towards the subway station. At the entrance, her friend Edelmira was waiting for her; they knew each other since the times she was teaching English to foreigners and did translation from Spanish and Polish at the institution that serviced all these communities. Edelmira was working at the reception, answered the phone and responded to the public. They boarded the subway together and chatted until Edelmira got off at Olney Station, the one before Fern Rock, which is the last station on the northen subway line in Philadelphia.

As she usually did on working days, Mirna walked to her car left at the station parking lot, and she drove towards her home on Fox Chase Avenue. On her way, she did pick up her children, Bernice, seven and John, six. It has been very hard for all three after her husband’s death in a street accident one year ago, which left them in a state of grief and confusion that instead of pulling them together, it seems to have distanced them a little from each other. Mirna saw them slowly moving away from her, as if that pain was turning them into strangers. She was facing her loss in pain and sadness.

Her children, however, seemed to go through it in anger. Maybe it’s because she had the experience of losing loved ones; but they were too young to understand. They were just her babies who suddenly stopped being that to become grown children. She knew it is useless to fight misfortune, but she could find no formula to make herself understood. She just tried to feel again that special bond with her children that had always existed between them. John appeared to deal a bit better with his loss. On the contrary, his sister stayed sullen and tried to isolate herself.

The first thing she did upon arriving home was to head for the living room and switch the TV set on. John accepted a glass of milk, and he told her about his day at school while eating some cookies. At supper time, she again tried to start a conversation with her daughter, but watching her attitude she decided not to insist. And so they got on with their activities until bedtime. Her daughter faked being asleep when she approached her bed to kiss her good night and Mirna left the room sad, not knowing what to do, feeling as if her daughter wanted to give vent to her anger, caused by the death of her father, just against her.

Alone in her room, she could not stop thinking about her past. She remembered her grandfather, as she did so many other times before. She could still see him in his house in Ituzaingo, telling stories about his past. He came from Polonia after Second World War. She imagined him young on a dock, and as many times happened then, waiting to be offered work in some ship that travelled to other countries. Particularly to Latin America, where war did not reach yet. He had already discussed that with grandmother, so that she would not be alarmed if she did not hear from him for some months. He knew of some cases where a few of his friends left without having time to even let their family know. And when the family was worried for something bad that might have happened to them, they would receive a letter telling they were working very far from their country.

He had been waiting several days close to the port when he got news of a ship that was offering jobs and sailing for Argentina. They were looking for people with experience in farm labour and grandfather, who have been always living in the city, lied saying he had been working at a farm. He got the job. Grandmother got to hear about this many months later when she received a letter. She had never heard of Argentina before or even dreamed of living there. Grandfather worked at a estancia (hacienda) in Buenos Aires province for more than one year. After that, he went to the capital city and did several different jobs. When he put the money together, he went back for grandmother. They often laughed when talking about their adventures and of the small apartment they rented where Mirna’s father was born.

When granpa put enough money together, he bougth a small clothing factory and made it prosper. And after Mirna’s father grew up sufficiently old enough to understand, his father instilled in him the idea of learning languages.

-You never know-he would tell his son-. I come from generations of Polish all born there. When would I have imagined that I would be forced to emigrate? Your mother and I had a lot of problems because we did not know Spanish, and the language is still a barrier for us. That’s why they say the brain is open to learn until a certain age. I would say that you need a good ear to learn a language, and the flexibility of your mouth to be able to emit those sounds. If you learn a language when you are a grown up, maybe you have the talent and capacity to assimilate it, but when you cannot move your mouth, perhaps you can read and understand it well, but pronounciation will not be good.

He seemed to realize that his son, and then his grand daughter, when they were little, felt embarrassed in front of some friends if he (his father) did not pronounce some words well. And maybe he felt unconfortable with them too, that is why he would usually speak in his native language to them. In spite of loving Argentina, where he spent most of his life, he was always afraid that one day, sooner or later something would happen, and they would be forced to emigrate. He wanted to prepare them for such situation.

He thought that if they speak a Latin, a slavic and and an anglosaxon language, they would have no problem with pronunciation and it would facilitate the capacity of speaning any other language; thus they would be able to survive anywhere in the world. His son decided to learn English with the idea of becoming a teacher. He had helped in the factory since his childhood and believed that his future was there, but he loved teaching and wanted to spend some time in England to make sure he learnt it well. He met Mirna’s mother in London and after some years of writing letters to her, they got married.

Mirna spoke perfect English, Polish and Spanish when she was six years old. Also his brother, who was born two years after her. Pablo was a cheerful person. He did not intend to follow his father or grandfather’s steps. His dream was in politics and law. He had a passion for coming to the defense of all the world and thought that Argentina had stopped being the country where freedom and democracy walked hand in hand. During his nineteen years of age, all kind of governments happened. Some had been chosen by the people. And many reached the power by a coup d’Etat.

Pablo saw no reason why a country, that for many years did not suffer a war, would have so many military personnel, and that they would be governing all the time. At University he found many young people who, like him, saw that something was wrong. So he joined a group branding the same ideals and started to distritute pamphlets, encouraging all to rebel against the dictatorship that appeared to behave every day with more strength. But that group became notorious and they even went to jail.

He came out of prison, but the way he was treated there strenghtened him more in his convictions; he started to express his opinions every time more publicly and his group turned out to become larger. At home, everyone asked him not to get involved in what the family believed was a political subject, but Pablo thought he had the obligation of opening the eyes of those who did not see what was happening in the country.

-I am not communist, and they cannot put me in jail because I express what I think.

-If you continue talking like that, they will accuse you of subversion and they may even kill you.

Grandfather begged him to stop exposing himself. But for Pablo, we were living a dictatorship and he was not going to allow them to deprive him of his freedom without a fight. Grandfather told him about how he survived a much worse dictatorship with the intention of opening his eyes; he thought there are many ways to fight and the best battle is won when you survive. For the first time that very close knit family was no longer that. Mirna did not know what to think. Sometimes she saw his granpa was right, but some other times, she understood her brother.

Everybody thought he was challenging fate. Some people was disappearing and nobody got to know what happened to them. The family was afraid that’s what was going to happen to Pablo. And when they found out that he died during a confrontation with the Police, they simply received the news as if they have been waiting for the passing of a loved one who have been very ill. Suddenly, the inevitable happened. The newspaper said that he was armed and that he fired first. But, through an anonymous informant, the family learnt that the Police called at the door of a place where his group was holding a meeting, and when Pablo opened the door they riddled him with bullits, and with him all those who were there present. There was no one left to testify on what happened. Several days after that, they came to capture his father, and granfather died of a heart attack.

Everybody was very scared. Nobody ever heard of him again. Grief also made grandmother ill and Mirna was left alone with her mother. This tragedy caused their only known relatives from Mexico to come to Argentina. They have visited each other before and they offered to take them back with them to Mexico. But Mirna and her mother decided to wait for some longer time, not letting die their hope that he would return someday. They searched for him for many years at all the Police stations.

Sometimes they were well treated, but as soon as they said their family name everything would change and so they came to fear for their own lives. When grandma died, they sold everything, including the factory that they made prosperous with so much effort through two generations, and accepted the offer of going to Mexico to live with the only members of the family they knew.

Thanks to the help of their relatives, the English lessons given by Mirna and the administration work found by her mother at a store, they lived well in Mexico. Year later, Mirna met Mark when he visited Mexico and they got married. They were happy. His relatives adored her and Bernice did not take much time to come to this world. One year later John arrived. Mirna hoped that her children would be as close as she was with her brother, but Bernice was a little jealous. She felt safe with her father, because there was a very special bond between them; but when she lost him, she started feeling insecure and Mirna attibuted it as the cause for her children fighting all the time.

As soon as Mirna became a citizen, she started procedures for bringing her mother with her, but the happenings of September 11th made everything so much more difficult for Immigration and her papers were delayed. Anna started to feel desperate. She used a special visa to come for her son-in-law’s funeral and stayed with her daughter for three months. When she saw they took so long in giving her a resident visa, she started to lose her patience. And started a campaign to find a way to accelerate the procedures. Everybody was telling her that if so many people were coming to work illegally, they saw no reason why she could not obtain a visa. She did not intend to come to work; she only wanted to stay with her daughter who she knew needed her.

One day she thought she found the solution: a neighbor knew somebody who could help her. She would only have to pay a certain amount of money and somebody would help her cross the borders. That idea seemed impossible to her at the beginning. TV and radio stations were advising people not be fooled by coyotes (the name by which the people who help immigrants cross the border were known). Just that name made her laugh, but when she told her neighbor that she did not think it was legal to come to the U.S. that way, her neighbor responded that an acquaintance actually did it and already had her green card. Anna thought a lot about it and finally decided for it. She talked with the person who would connect her to the coyote and, as soon as she handed him the money and had a departure date, she told her daughter. Before hunging up, Mirna made her mother promise not to do anything until she, Mirna, would speak with a lawyer.

Mirna got home prepared to talk with her mother and found she had a letter from Immigration where she was summoned for the following day, so she decided to wait for the call. Mirna was anxious and a little scared when she arrived to the Immigration office. She took a number and nervously waited for a long time until her number was called. When she found out that the so much awaited for visa has been issued, she run home to make the call but she was told that the phone line has been cancelled. So she contacted the house of some relatives but nobody knew anything. Mirna remembered that she once had a neighbour’s number and she called. Astonished, she