Could this Immigration Story Happen Today?
A 1950s illegal immigrant wanted to naturalize... and was helped by the U.S. government.
When I was studying the high-tech revolution, I came across a story that was not tech related, and yet demonstrated social change very well. This was back in 2015, when U.S. politics was shifting and Trump was campaigning for his first term.
Note: I’m approaching this story as a white, queer anthropologist whose work focuses on systems and cultural shifts — not as someone who has personally navigated the U.S. immigration system or rationalized border enforcement.
The story I’d like to examine is that of an immigrant who came to the United States illegally in the 1950s. He spent around two years illegally inside the United States and realized that he would like to stay and naturalize due to unrest in his homeland. Unfortunately, since he had entered the country illegally, he was going to have to take steps to resolve his situation. So he went to the immigration office and asked what he could do.
“There was no trouble. I went to Immigration and told them I’d like to stay in America, and they told me I have to leave the U.S. and go another country and have someone sponsor me to come back legally to this country. I went to Dominican Republic, and I stay there for few months.” —pp.43-44, Stories of Elders
After his return to the United States, he naturalized and eventually went on to own multiple businesses in Pittsburgh, including a food distribution company.
In the early 2020s, I performed a reading at a conservative book club from my book and shared this story. I stated confidently that this situation was impossible today. The response was laughter and ridicule.
Yet, when immigrants attend their hearings in accordance with U.S. immigration law, they are arrested and deported. The man I interviewed was an illegal immigrant, and yet he was treated with respect and dignity, and shown the path forward. He was shown the United States that we have been told exists. A country welcoming of and built by immigrants.
What does whiteness have to do with it?
One thing of interest is that the person I interviewed was an immigrant from Greece. Today, and during the period in which he immigrated, Balkaners are considered white. It is unfortunate — and telling — that I do not have a comparable oral history immigrant racialized as non-white during the same period. That absence is not neutral; it reflects who was recorded, protected, and able to survive long enough to tell their story.
According to the “becoming white thesis,” Balkaners were once considered second class Europeans in the not-too-distant past. As a Croatian, my family, too, was considered second class Europeans, and thus second class Americans.
It is thus worth noting that a change to FAFSA college applications now asks students not just if they are white, but also what kind of white they are (here is what Snopes says about it). Fine racial lines are being drawn again, and it is very important to notice as an indicator of categorization, documentation, and privacy relations. I’m not suggesting that these categorizations are equivalent to past regimes of racial documentation — only that moments of increased classification are worth paying attention to, especially given historical precedent.
What to do next
Ground Work is about reclaiming agency during periods of change. So here is what you can do, both within and without the United States.
Know what ICE can and cannot do so you can offer aid or hide legally. Remember, never do anything illegal, or it will hurt your case and ability to act. That line is constantly shifting, so check resources often.
Join a protest. There is safety in numbers and collective action garners attention (yes, abroad we hear of the massive protests hitting U.S. streets even when U.S. news doesn’t report them — and we participate, too).
Sign a petition. This one is sponsored by the ACLU.
Understand that Renee Good (a queer Christian and award-winning poet) was not the first death caused by ICE — her whiteness made her visible in mainstream media in a way many others were not. Do your research starting here and speak their names.
None of us see the whole system clearly — but we can choose whether we look directly at the parts that are visible. So, what do you think? Could the immigrant in my book have received the same treatment today? Share your thoughts (and actions) in the comments.