Portrait of an Illegal Alien

“The definition of insanity is when you do the same things expecting different results”. This is the case of the Dominicans during the dictatorship of Leonidas Trujillo, which lasted for thirty years. They voted for his successor Joaquin Balaguer six times during three decades and then complained about the governments. For over sixty-five years, Dominican Republic was ruled by violent and corrupted leaders that promoted the rich to be richer and the poor to be hungrier. The poor and mismanaged economy led to high inflation, unemployment and depreciation of the Dominican Peso in 1980. As a result of the economic catastrophe, most Dominicans were forced to immigrate to its neighbor island The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico seeking for better life opportunities.

Many Dominican parents were forced to leave in hope of finding jobs in Puerto Rico and USA to support their children back home. My mother moved to Puerto Rico in 1986 when Balaguer was elected for the fourth time under fraud, and the exchange rate was ten Dominican Pesos per US Dollar. I was five years old when my mom left me and my younger sister at my grandmother’s house in Santo Domingo. The United States only approved her Visa because immigrant children represented extra cost for the government. In fact, adults were required to prove that they were able to support themselves in order to be legal residents of the United States. Around 120,000 Dominicans were legally admitted to Puerto Rico from 1966 through 2002. Since many Dominicans used to cross the Mona Passage illegally, Puerto Ricans had the wrong idea that all Dominican women that cleaned houses were undocumented. People not only called my mom illegal, but even worse, they called her an illegal alien. A continuous nostalgic and guilty feeling surrounded her for being far from her family and her country.

Having little choice, my mother had to accept jobs of lesser status and skills to generate the most income possible. Three years later, my mom could prove the United States Immigration Department that she had a stable job and enough income to support my sister and me. She found a second job in a cafeteria and moved to a bigger apartment close to the public school we attended. My sister and I moved to San Juan in December 1989. Even though my mom made more money as a housekeeper and a waitress in San Juan, than as a nurse in Santo Domingo, she never felt like the same person. After we moved there, it was too hard for her to go back to school with the responsibilities of two jobs and two kids to take care of. She could never follow her nursing career again because she did not get the state license. Consequently, she was always treated as an illegal housekeeper even when she was completely legal.

Finally and perhaps the most painful effect was the racism towards the children of legal immigrants. My sister and I also fit into the portrait of an illegal alien. During the 1980s, Dominicans in Puerto Rico had many disadvantages, mostly because we were not American citizens. We were also considerate less educated and worse paid than the average Puerto Rican in the island. In contrast, being a Dominican immigrant were considerate elite in the 1970s when most of them were professionals and managers. In our childhood, we were often a target of prejudice and racism. In school, Puerto Rican kids used to make fun of our accent and appearance. We were challenged to work harder than every other kid to prove our worth and gain their respect. At one point I had to do some of my climates’ homework in grade school to avoid being rejected at lunch break.

In conclusion, the damage was done in our country, and the Dominicans will never be the same. Professionals, intellectuals and celebrities of the golden age are now forgotten and anonymous souls. All that remains in their hearts are precious and sad memories of the beautiful island of La Española. As immigrants, they go through many challenges and identity conflicts that made it harder to rescue their talents and gifts. Immigrants have so much pressure on their shoulders to avoid making trivial mistakes that natives can easily get away with. They have to work twice as hard to gain half the respect and reputation. Sometimes no matter how accurate they learn the language or practice the customs of their adopted country, they will often be labeled illegal aliens. It remains to be seemed the day when human beings learn to accept each other as equals since we are all citizens of the same world.