It’s a bit difficult to think of myself as “not American:” I’ve spent 33 of my 34 years in this country and have no memories of a life in South Korea. While President Obama continues to delay administrative action on immigration and Congress continues to be completely unreasonable, my life is still on hold as I wait for the next development.
For many, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) came as a relief: it offered temporary deportation relief for Dreamers — undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. For Dreamers such as myself, however, it was a crushing reminder of how long we had been waiting as I had aged out of the program, myself missing the cutoff by couple of months.
While some of my slightly-younger friends have been able to apply for working permits and driver’s licenses, my dream to one day be a federal judge and serve this great country continues to be on hold.
For years I hid my undocumented status. Whenever the idea of driving and working ever came up with friends, my response was always the same, “I’m just not interested.” Perhaps, it was the Asian culture in Brooklyn, but I did know that my parents never really did speak about this issue even when I did graduate college.
We think of immigration as a Latino issue, but it’s not. And when the Asian community thinks its best to stay silent, it just really harms us. How many Jong-Min’s were out there in Stuyvesant High School, struggling to finish and were told to just stay quiet?
When I was the first Korean-American to make the NY Korean newspaper in 2010, I was roasted by my parents and other Koreans. Why? Because I wanted to pass the DREAM Act? Move immigration along? It’s not an embarrassment, I think, to be undocumented, what was worse was suffering in silence. But my parents did not feel that way. “Let the next person do it, why you?!” I was asked.
I broke the silence because it wasn’t just for me, but for other undocumented kids in Bensonhurst or in Sunset Park who were afraid and could never speak out. They too were caught in this immigration mess.
I work hard at my family’s grocery store in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Working with my family is good and noble, however, with a degree in Sociology I feel I haven’t fully used my education in pursuing my dream; if I had been born just a year later, I could be. The fact that an entire community of stories like this exists shows how the current immigration system is arbitrary, unfair and not rooted to family ties, community ties or even merit.
Like Miami-Dade, the state of California and many other jurisdictions, New York State has essentially opted out of detaining people solely for immigration violations. Even within NY, however, it’s still possible to be picked up by immigration agents. My parents and I can still be deported at any time.
It would be wonderful to have faith in the legislative process. Republicans, however, continue to make a public spectacle by being anti-immigrant to send fundraising letters and win over Tea Party off-year voters. Democrats, meanwhile, lack the political courage or discipline to do anything effective about it.
The Administration, meanwhile, pursues the same agenda which had Obama dubbed the “Deporter-in-Chief” by the head of National Council of La Raza. After deporting more people already than any President in history, Obama continues to delay an executive order that has been a long time in coming.
There is a night and day difference in the lives of those who have DACA and those who do not: an expanded DACA is my best chance, as well as the best chance for millions, to get that night and day difference in our lives.
Currently, the Democrats in the Senate are fighting that change because they’re worried about midterm elections. At some point, a leader must make tough decisions and keep his promises. I hope the President takes bold action to keep his promise and keep millions of families together.
My community deserves relief from deportation and being taken advantage of on a labor black market, and can receive it overnight from an executive order. It isn’t perfect: any executive order is temporary. It will, however, allow me to obtain a drivers license and go to law school without the fear of being uprooted and deported to a country I have no memory of.
So President Obama, the ball is in your court. Please do not keep making the same mistakes of delaying executive actions in response to the election cycle. The Asian community needs relief now, and not when it’s convenient for a party to keep power.
Jong-Min You is an elder ‘Dreamer’, an immigration activist and a member of the 1 of 11Million Deferred Action Campaign.
