It was 2006, we were on our honeymoon in New Mexico. We drove everywhere in the states, hitting many of the beautiful parks and Pueblos, and stopping at natural hot springs along the way. It was all beautiful, and so much fun. Then we headed to the White Sands National Monument. As we got closer to the park, we came across a check point on the highway, where an officer asked us if we were U.S. citizens. My husband said yes, then smiling, I waved and said, "I'm not!" We had no idea why the officer was asking the question in the first place, and well, you gotta be honest, right? Let me remind you that we are New Yorkers.
The officer then asks me to show him my passport. To which I reply, "WHY?!" with the slight attitude that is always right below the surface of all New Yorkers. The officer is a bit taken aback, but politely rallies with "because you are not a U.S. citizen." Now this is ridiculous. "I don't have it, because we haven't left the country. No one walks around with a passport. I have my driver's license." Then the officer sighs, and asks where we are from. He sighs again upon hearing our New York origin, and asks if I am a permanent resident. I pointedly reply that I am, then he politely requests if he may please see the Green Card. "I don't carry that!" The officer still politely pushes on with "uh...why not?"
Now I'm annoyed. "Do you know how hard it is to replace it if I lose it? Do you know how mean these people are at the immigration office? I have it where it is safe, with my passport, at home! Why would I carry it when I'm traveling within the country? If you need my identification, I have my driver's license!"
"So you really don't carry your passport or the Green Card?
"NO! WHO DOES?"
"Well, everyone, when you are this close to the border."
"I've been to upstate New York, and NO ONE asks for a passport!"
"... that's not the same border."
The officer, who is not a New Yorker, still gently pushes on with the request to see my social security card, which I don't carry, because, REALLY, WHO DOES??? You have your number memorized, and the number checks out when anyone bothers to really check it, that's all it's for, right?? Now the officer writes down my social security number, takes my driver's license, and apologetically asks us to drive over to the little building on the side of the road, while he checks it up. We do so, and see another car with a couple standing by. The young woman is a pretty blond, and the man next to her seems to be from India or a Pakistan. My husband and I laugh, and approach them. "Let me guess, Massachusetts?" They laugh with "close. Connecticut. You?" "New York. Who walks around with a passport! What-the-hell! Right?" "Yeah, right? It didn't even occur to us. We weren't leaving the country." "I know! It's crazy!" The pretty blond sensibly suggests that we probably have a different reality being so close to the border. I guess so. But really, they should put that little fact on all the travel guides!! I don't remember seeing that warning on my Lonely Planet!
Our active northern conversation subdues and we put on our polite faces when an officer approaches us with our driver's licenses.
"Ma'am, Your documents checked out."
"Of course they do."
"...please have your passport and Green Card on you the next time."
"Sure."
We wave at the other couple and drive off, talking about how crazy all of that was.
At the next check point, an officer politely asks if we were U.S. citizen, and we both smile and say, "YES!"
If this had been in present-time Arizona, I would have been jailed, and my husband would have had to fly back to our apartment in New York, and bring back my passport and Green Card, then pay the fine for all the trouble I caused.
My little babyNOIR has the beauty you'd call "exotic." With any racial profiling, she would be targeted. I hope we will not move in that direction. I have come to this country as a student, and became a permanent resident through marriage. I have worked illegally and legally, and paid taxes throughout while I do not have the right to vote. I am not applying for a citizenship, for reasons that are my own. This country was built and has been run and supported by millions of immigrants just like me. Very funny Ms. Wanda Sykes said something really brilliant - "Why are they called illegal immigrants? They're undocumented workers. If someone broke into my house and vacuumed my rug, I might be puzzled. But mad?"
I know many "illegal immigrants" who are hard-working people whose service we cannot do without. Would you really work in a farm in all hours of the day and night along side an owner? Would you really sit there and sew garments all day long, after having to learn how to do it meticulously to compete against goods coming in from China? Would you really work every night, cleaning offices for a minimum wage? The whole thing about trying to eliminate the criminal activity by eliminating the specific group of people reminds me of Swift's A Modest Proposal.
Amen!!! To all of it :(
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