Thread: "This Law Is Very Unjust" SOB!!!!!

One Woman's Story: "This Law Is Very Unjust"


New America Media, First Person, Teresa Mina, as told to David Bacon, Posted: Jul 24, 2010

I come from Tierra Blanca, a very poor town in Veracruz. After my children's father abandoned us, I decided to come to the U.S. There's just no money to survive. We couldn't continue to live that way.

We all felt horrible when I decided to leave. My three kids, my mom, and two sisters are still living at home in Veracruz. The only one supporting them now is me.

My kids' suffering isn't so much about money. I've been able to send enough to pay the bills. What they lack is love. They don't have a father; they just have me. My mother cares for them, but it's not the same. They always ask me to come back. They say maybe we'll be poor, but we'll be together.

I haven't been able to go back to see them for six years because I don't have any papers to come back to the U.S. afterwards. To cross now is very hard and expensive.

My first two years in San Francisco I cleaned houses. The work was hard, and I was lonely. It's different here. Because I'm Latina and I don't know English, if I go into a store, they watch me from head to foot, like I'm a robber.

After two years, I got a job as a janitor, making $17.85 per hour. Cleaning houses only paid $10. But then I was molested sexually. Another worker exposed himself to me and my friend. When we went to the company and filed a complaint, they took me off the job and kept me out of work a month. They didn't pay me all that time.

That's when my problems started, because I called the union and asked them to help me. After that, the company called me a problematic person because I wouldn't be quiet and I fought for my rights. Sometimes they wouldn't give me any work.

When you work as a janitor, you're mostly alone. You pick up trash, clean up the kitchen and vacuum. These are simple things, and they tire you out, but basically, it's a good job. Lots of times we don't take any breaks, though. To finish everything, sometimes we don't even stop for lunch.

No one ever said anything to me about immigration for four years. But then the company gave a letter to my coworkers, saying they wouldn't be able to continue working because they had no papers. About 40 people got them at first. Eventually, I got a letter, too.

The person from the company’s human relations office said immigration had demanded the papers for all the people working at the company. She said 300 people didn't have good papers. People whose papers were bad had a month to give the company other documents. If the immigration authorities said these were no good too, we'd be fired. She said the immigration might come looking for us where we lived.

We had a meeting at the union about the letters. Some people in that meeting had papers and came to support those of us who didn't. They said when they first came here they had to cross the border like we did, in order to find work.

They people who had papers complained that so many of us were being fired that the workload increased for people who were left. The union got weaker, too. We all paid $49 a month in union dues, and that adds up to a lot. We were paying that money so that the union would defend us if we got fired like this.

In that meeting we said we wanted equal rights. No one should be fired unless the immigration arrests us. We don't want the company to enforce immigration laws. The company isn't the law.

The company gave me no work in December and January. I was desperate. I had no money. I had to move in with someone else, because I couldn't pay rent. I couldn't send money home to my children.

I was so stressed I fell and broke my arm, and was out on disability. Then I went back to work, and when I went to get my check, the woman in the office wouldn't pay me until I showed them new immigration papers. She gave me three days to bring them, and said if I didn't I'd be fired.

I asked her, "So you're the immigration?"

I felt really bad. I spent so many years killing myself in that job, and I needed to keep it so I could send money home. But I couldn't keep fighting. I didn't want my problems to get even bigger -- I could tell things would only get worse.

I went back after three days and told the company I didn't have any good papers. I asked for my pay for the hours I'd worked and my vacation. I told them I had a flight back to Mexico and needed my check.

They only paid me 60 hours, though they owed me 82. They knew I was leaving and I couldn't fight them over it. The union did get me something. If I come back with papers within two years, I'll get my job back.

This law is very unjust. We're doing jobs that are heavy and dirty. We work day and night to help our children have a better life, or just to eat. My work is the only support for my family. Now my children won't have what they need.

Many people are frightened now. They don't want to complain or fight about anything because they're afraid they might get fired. They think if we keep fighting, the immigration will pick us up. They have families here. What will happen to their children? Nobody knows. They worry that what's happened to me might happen to them.

I can't afford to live here for months without working. I came to this country to work for my children. But if this is what happens because I've been fighting and struggling, I'd rather leave and go home and live with my children. In the end, they need me more.

So I guess I'll go back to Tierra Blanca. I'll work in the fields or try selling food there. My family says the economic situation at home is very hard. I'm not bringing much money home.

But I like to work, and I know I'll find a way.

http://newamericamedia.org/2010/07/one- ... unjust.php

My first two years in San Francisco I cleaned houses. The work was hard, and I was lonely. It's different here. Because I'm Latina and I don't know English, if I go into a store, they watch me from head to foot, like I'm a robber.

You are a thief! You've stolen a job and you're actively trespassing in this country! You've also probably stolen or are using a fradulent ss card! I could go on but why bother!

If the shoe fits then wear it!

was so stressed I fell and broke my arm, and was out on disability. Then I went back to work, and when I went to get my check, the woman in the office wouldn't pay me until I showed them new immigration papers. She gave me three days to bring them, and said if I didn't I'd be fired.

I asked her, "So you're the immigration?"

And she has a smart mouth to boot! How long are these invaders going to be tolerated in this country! They expect everyone to disregard the rule of law to placate and accomodate them!

Enough of this shit!

Lots of citizens would be glad for a $17 an hour janitorial job or even a $10 an hour housecleaning job. Me even. After some of the crap I've seen on so-called regular jobs cleaning sh*t seems like cleaner work. Seriously, lots of people worry about spending time in prison if they obey their boss and do as their boss tells them to do. Others worry about spending their retirement in court explaining why things were done the way that they were. Lots of us would rather take the janitorial job after all that ridiculous stress but it is not allowed to us because we are citizens.

Oh I meant to ask? Who paid the disability? Was she paying the taxes and insurance for disability too out of her wage or was she getting that wage because she was undocumented - like a contractor expected to provide own benefits - but of course taxpayers get to pay her disability?

Oh God, I can't stand anymore boo hoo stories like this about illegals. How's about the freakin news media start writing about American citizens sad stories? How's about they start pointing out to these people that they are not the only ones who have it hard. How's about they right out ask this illegal do they think it's fair that for every one of her children she is sending money back to feed, there is an American child going hungry...

What I take from this is that she has never had any intention of assimilating. She refers to Mexico as "home". and talks about sending money"home".
She is very clear that the only reason she is here is to make money and send it back to Mexico.
The good ole U.S. of A. cash machine for Mexico. Got to love it!!!

So I guess I'll go back to Tierra Blanca. I'll work in the fields or try selling food there. My family says the economic situation at home is very hard. I'm not bringing much money home.

Aww boo-flippin-hoo! the economic situation is very hard here too, deal with it. You and others like you have sucked us dry for far too long, no more. You can always make demands in your own country, we are done!

Originally Posted by miguelina

So I guess I'll go back to Tierra Blanca. I'll work in the fields or try selling food there. My family says the economic situation at home is very hard. I'm not bringing much money home.

Aww boo-flippin-hoo! the economic situation is very hard here too, deal with it. You and others like you have sucked us dry for far too long, no more. You can always make demands in your own country, we are done!

Ditto that M!

Having been to Mexico, I understand their culture. Poor people there, especially the ones that end up crossing the border - rich and middle class Mexicans don't care much about coming here illegally, they get visas - have a strange way of thinking mostly because they are ignorant about American culture and principles. They assume that because they work hard that that entitles them to benefits. They also assume that crossing the border illegally turns them into an automatic immigrant.

It's ignorance. That's why I don't really give a crap what some of these people say and the media the interviews them. They act out of ignorance. They also think that the United States has an obligation to solve their poverty problems. They think we're rich and one more illegal won't make a difference.

Then, when they see all the support from La Raza and special interest groups, they're fooled into thinking that they are entitled to being here illegally.

Originally Posted by legalalien

Then, when they see all the support from La Raza and special interest groups, they're fooled into thinking that they are entitled to being here illegally.

In other words LaRaza etc. are largely to blame for their "hurt feelings", right?

Sure would like the see the press just one time ask them where they get their sense of entitlement.