Deportation: It's not just for Mexicans
May 19, 2006 at 9:16 Cindy, my expat blogging buddy in Brussels, is being deported. Yes, deported.
If any of you have visited her blog, you know that Cindy has had ADVENTURES as an expat. Since moving here from San Diego last November, her life has unrolled like a series of zany SNL skits. When I read on her blog she’d unexpectedly been served with deportation papers ordering her to leave the country in five days, I thought it was just another chapter in what will one day be a bestselling memoir. And because all the sitcom-like scenes that are Cindy’s life in Belgium have had happy endings (more or less), I figured this episode would have one too.
Besides, Cindy is a lawyer. She knows all about paperwork and legal processes. She’s been working with a relocation agency since she moved here to ensure a smooth trip through the formidable Belgian bureaucracy. Her partner Dan’s employer has been helping her too. I mean, how could they deport Cindy? Surely this was yet another silly turn of events.
But it’s not.
She leaves on Monday.
We had lunch together today and tried to sort through the mess of it. I just felt shocked, because until today I didn’t think Belgium would really deport her. It was hard to face the facts.
We joked about all the reasons Belgium might have for deporting her: hmmm, that little incident when she ran into a tram? Or the time she was stranded in the Palais du Justice during a bomb scare and exited the building with the TV cameras rolling? Or maybe it was the time she blundered through a diplomatic procession at NATO ? Or the altercations she’s had with French-speaking old biddies on the Metro and in the street? Snubbing the mayor of Brussels didn’t help, but hey, she really did think her neighbors were joking when they introduced him as the mayor.
Both of us thought of all the “illegal” Mexicans in the U.S. who are dealing with Bush’s suddenly hawkish immigration policy. National Guard troops securing the border? Has the world gone crazy? Cindy and I agreed that maybe she should ask Belgium for political asylum. She described herself as a "first world refugee."
Hey, I said, if you leave you'll have to change the name of your blog from The Belgian Years to The Belgian Months. That’s just not right!
But behind all the laughter, we were both uneasy. Being ordered to leave the country isn’t funny. We keep telling ourselves that surely this will all be worked out and she could come back, right? Just another bureaucratic snafu to iron out.
We hope.
All I know for sure is my stomach sank when we said goodbye. I couldn’t turn back for a final glance as my train pulled away from the platform.
May 19, 2006
Reader Comments (10)
I'll be sure to send Ding-Dongs, lunchables and hair dye. Good thing I have the internet to keep in touch! I don't think I have been banned from that ... yet.
Illegally yours,
Cindy
Americans businesses have been ever so happy to welcome Mexicans as low-wage farm workers, waiters and waitresses, restaurant staff, housekeepers, child care workers, landscapers, construction workers, and laborers. Their work ethic and willingness to work at minimum wage have fattened the bank accounts of many a Republican business owner. The least they can do is grant working illegals amnesty.
I have to say that I think the National Guard on the border is a joke, actually. Meant so he can say, "See? I did something. Now we have to do it another way, and grant amnasty."Then his Fat-Cat friends can keep using them to make money. And I have to admit, I have a problem with that. I think about it this way; Why is it okay to use Mexican people as slave labor, paying them practically nothing, and treating them like non-human resources? Just because they are from Mexico? The system of letting these people break the law, and come into the counrty to "do the jobs American's won't do" allows empolyers to get away with not paying people what the job is worth. It allows these uneducated, poor people to be used up, and tossed away without remorse. Frankly, I think it is racist to say that Mexicans will do the work for next to nothing, so let them.(I don't mean to say that YOU are racist.)
Not to mention that I live and do social work in California, and believe me, it is costing our state tons and tons of money to have these illegal people here. It just is. And that makes our system not work like it should for our citizens. I work with people who might do those jobs, if the employers were forced to do the right thing, and not only think about the fattest blottom line. Might not be pretty, but thems are the facts, at least as I see it. And I see it first hand, doing what I do. We can't keep importing poverty, and expect to ever get on top of the social needs we have now.
I don't understand why it is that people think any Country should just have an open door policy? How is that manageable? It can't be.Something needs to change, but I don't think open borders is the answer.And the people who have been working and trying to come here legally should be treated better, as well. That whole system is just a mess.
I haven't left a comment for awhile! I didn't mean any disrespect, I hope you know. ;) You can tell me to go back to lurking if you want!
:)
Immigration is complicated, but what annoys me is that there are lawbreakers on both sides of the equation here: people sneeking into the country illegally and people hiring them or exploiting them or even rewarding their "illegal" behavior. As Americans, we have to take responsibility for the circumstances that allowed this problem to exist and grow. From my perspective, the administration is taking a position that says the problem is OUT THERE and there's a military solution--keeping these people out. Notice, we're not dispatching the National Guard to round up all the employers and landlords who have exploited Mexicans.We're not demonizing those folks, we're demonizing people looking for a better life. No, they can't all come here, but those who have become part of American life over the years need to be treated fairly and compassionately.
I agree that it is not an easy issue. I don't think we have an easy answer. I am in favor of reworking the work visas, and also fixing the broken legal imigration system. I feel bad for the people who are trying to come here as law abiding citizens, and just get totally jerked around! It is no wonder people don't want to go through it. That would be at the top of my list of things to do.
This only got my attention, because it is SUCH an issue here right now. More so in California even than in the rest of the nation. And now the rest of the nation is just starting to pay attention... I am a humanitarian, you know. I use my life to try to help people. So I can understand how it could sound like I'm not being compassionate, or something. I just think I'm being realistic, really. The reality is, we can't help everyone who needs it. I wish we could! But we can't. At least not all at once. I fear that if we keep ignoring the costs of doing this kind of business, we are not going to have anything left to help at all.(We are talking about millions of people, not just a few hundred thousand.)
Thanks for this little give and take. It really is interesting to hear what you have to say, because it is SUCH a heated issue here, people can't even talk respectfully about it anymore. :(
I want to believe the politicians involved in the issue are looking out for everyone's interests, but in the end, trust me, I have far more confidence in the social workers on the grassroots level who are grappling with the immigration issue every day.
I wouldn't trust one as far as I could kick one. That is sad.
:)