Other faces of immigration fear Ariz. law fallout
VIDEO - It took him several years and thousands of miles to get here. And turns out the U.S. is Ahmat Alhadi's cup of tea...
It took him several years and thousands of miles to get here. And it turns out America is Ahmat Alhadi’s cup of tea.
But Ahmat Alhadj is not your average American. He’s a refugee from Darfur—a place labeled one of the most dangerous places on earth because of the ongoing genocide there. He fled eight years ago when his tribe was targeted by the Sudanese government.
“I’m lucky I’m under protective status in the United States,” Alhadj said.
Alhadj says he’s living a dream in Brooklyn, New York. He was able to bring his wife to America, and they now have a one-year-old daughter. But his life is pretty hard by most Americans’ standards. He’s a full-time student studying computer engineering technology. He’s also a cab driver and works 12 hours a day seven days a week.
If he has any complaints about his new home it would be the high cost of living in New York City — and the recent events in Arizona. A new law there makes the failure to carry immigration documents a crime. Although he is here legally, Alhadj believes every immigrant should have rights.
“Anywhere you go and you stay with the people and you work and you do good things and you follow the law, that’s your country,” Alhadi said. “And you get rights to have all opportunities.”
Black immigrants like Alhadi make up 12 percent of America’s foreign-born population. If you consider those who are living here illegally, that number is believed to be much higher. And although black immigrants may not look like most of the immigrants in Arizona, they are speaking out against the state’s controversial new law — but they’re forced to do it anonymously.
One Haitian immigrant who calls herself Jocelyn won’t show her face because of fear of deportation. Being an undocumented immigrant from Haiti, she finds the situation in Arizona terrifying.
“Arizona is America. New York is America. What happens in Arizona can happen in New York,” Jocelyn said in Creole.
Jocelyn left Haiti 10 years ago on a three-month visa to escape political oppression and poverty. She now lives just outside New York City and works off the books to send money to her 19-year-old son.
“I lost ten years of my child’s life,” she said. “It makes me want to cry.”
Another thing that makes her want to cry is the way she is sometimes treated in America.
“People think that just because you’re here without papers they can do anything to you and don’t give you what you deserve,” she said.
Brooklyn College professor Alan Aja explains the impact that black immigrants have in America.
“We have this myth out there that black Caribbean immigrants come self-selected in the labor market, but the studies are showing that they’re struggling just like anybody else—facing daily discrimination in the housing market, in the labor market,” Aja said.
Jocelyn hopes there will be a bit less struggling in her future. The Department of Homeland Security is granting Haitian nationals living in the United States on or before last January’s earthquake in Haiti temporary protected status.She applied last month. If she’s approved, she says she will gladly show the world her face.
