For many Caribbean nationals, coming to the United States is an opportunity not to be missed.
Some immigrants were granted visitor’s visas, given the opportunity to visit but upon arriving in the US decided to make the country their new home. Those who do so, are categorized as undocumented immigrants by the US government and, invariably, find living under the radar very challenging.
National Weekly recently spoke to a Jamaican woman living in South-Florida without legal status for some time. Her story gives insight into life below the radar.
“I came to the United States in 1998. When I was just 19 years old. I landed in New York after being granted a visa in Jamaica. From that day, I have not returned home although I long to visit the land of my birth. I know if return I won’t be able to come back,” the woman, who gave her name only as Celia said.
Celia is from Clarendon, Jamaica and after leaving high school worked various jobs in the parish. She applied for and was granted a US Visitor’s Visa in 1998. A few months later she arrived at the JFK Airport in New York.
“I thought life here was better than in Jamaica, so after a few weeks I decided to stay. Things were easier back then and I quickly found work in a restaurant. I knew I was illegal but wanted to have a better life for my mother who was living in poverty back home,” Celia said.
Taking a long drag on a cigarette a hint of sadness flashed in her eyes.
“I continued working in New York, but when the relatives I was staying with started showing me ‘bad face’ I moved to Harlem. A girlfriend introduced me to dancing and I began dancing in a strip club,” she said, “But I left that trade after a few years.”
Many undocumented immigrants obtain legal immigration status through marriage to US citizens. Although Celia that route she wasn’t so lucky.
“I get married to two different men. However, they both took my money and ran off, asking for divorce, and threatening to report me to immigration. In all I lost $6,000 to try get straight,” she said.
Her second husband did report her to immigration authorities despite granting him a divorce. She just missed being caught and probably deported because she was absent from work due to illness when ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, came for her at her job. She said when she heard that ICE came for her she immediately took a bus to stay with an aunt in Philadelphia.
After spending a year in Philadelphia, she relocated to South Florida, where she has lived ever since.
But since then, she has been unable to keep a job for any length of time due to her status. She was able to work as a CNA for a while, but that went awry due to increased vigilance by the authorities, and the passing of the elderly woman she cared for who treated her like a daughter.
Twenty years after coming to America Celia faces an uncertain future. She offers this message to Caribbean nationals seeking to come to the US seeking a better life.
“If you are not legal life will be worse than what you are leaving. Without Social Security you can’t get good work and every day you worry it’s the day you going get caught. Living under the radar not pretty. I – I would never do what I did if I had that chance again,” she said.
