Living in the basement

Nikita Stewart wanted to research people living in basements in New York City, so she went around and started interviewing people. People in New York, specifically Queens living in illegal basements are mostly immigrants. These basements are unsafe and overcrowded with many people. Many people were afraid to talk due to their status, but they got to talk to a 50-year-old man named Amado who has a green card. He talked about his living situation and what it is like living in the basement. Amado lives in a cramped basement with a bunch of others who barley knows each other. He even has a roommate who he doesn’t know much about. Amado works throughout the week and sends majority of his money to Mexico to where his family is. The news reporter found this story difficult to write because all Amado did in his daily life was work, home, eat, and sleep. So, they took it a step further and in this article, you will also learn about what his homeland is like, what all of Amado’s sacrificing is for.

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The Untold Story of an Undocumented Immigrant Family Torn Apart by 9/11

This article is about an untold story of an undocumented immigrant family who went through 9/11. Luis and Ana came to New York in the late 1980’s when he got a job as a bus boy. They had a son together and raised him in Queens NY. In 1996 he landed the job of his dreams and worked for the Windows on the World restaurant that was on top of the North tower. In 2001 he was promoted to a manager position. On September 11th he headed into work kissing his wife goodbye like he usually does and started his day at 5:30 in the morning. The restaurant had over 400 workers that included immigrants from over two dozen different countries. Luis sadly was on of the 73 people who died along with 6 other workers and 91 guest. Kenneth Feinberg created a Victims Compensation Fund and raised over 7 billion dollars for people who were injured or dependents of the deceased. After Ana was really scared because she lived here illegally, she wanted to leave but needed to stay for her son who needed special medication they couldn’t get back home. Ana was afraid to ask for help because of her status but when she did the amount of help she received she said “was so beautiful”. In 2016 she finally got her green card and owns her own bakery something Luis and her dreamed about. Unfortunately they never found his body but since he always wanted his ashes to be in the ocean Ana believes that’s where he is. 

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British Family Detained

A British family was detained by the US government when they accidentally crossed over the U.S. border while driving. The were kept in a service center for ever two weeks with their 3 month old baby. They claim that they conditions they were kept in were awful but border control is denial any accusations. They were visiting some family in Vancouver and was driving near the border when they saw an animal in the road and swerved to avoid hitting it. They drove onto an unmarked road resulting in crossing the border. They have four adults, 2 year old twins, and a baby. They claim they watch them on a video surveillance trying to enter into the U.S. illegally. After the two weeks they were deported back into the UK with no further information. 

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Living Undocumented reviews

CNN wrote a review about the new Netflix series called “Living Undocumented” stating how it is a passionate piece that shows the roles of immigrants lives and how they live in fear every day. CNN makes a note in the series Trump administration was getting blamed on for problems we see with immigration today. However, they made a point stating that the problem with the immigration stating under Bill Clinton but Trump is the recent president that is expanding on it in a negative way. They followed 8 families but after this some of them struggled staying together seeing how their kids are so afraid to be out in the world. They also stated that even though this show was so powerful and a great discussion piece it is sad that it doesn’t do much to the immigration policy we have to deal with today.

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Living Undocumented

This week I found something about immigration that I didn’t know existed. There is a new series on Netflix called Living Undocumented and it is about 8 undocumented immigrants and how they live their life in America when they can face deportation at any time. Within each episode they talk to the families they follow and ask they how they feel about what is going on around them and how much it affects them. They use the words scared and living in a shadow or “they never knew that not being born in America can be a bad and dangerous thing”. There is about six episodes showing a very personal side of what immigrants feel about how the world and society is treating them. They even talk about the wait for a green card which could be up to 20 years. I find these immigration stories important because the news makes it all about face but watching these shows really show the emotional side if how immigration really effects the people around us.

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