Obama’s immigration order creates dreams & destroys others

Donna Burnett, Lin Jian Ling, Jung Rae Jang and Leonor Rojas' lives have all been changed — for better or worse — by Obama's immigration order.Photo: Matthew McDermott ; Paul Martinka ; AP ; Robert Miller ; Gabriella Bass

Through the luck of timing, as many as 5 million of the nation’s undocumented immigrants no longer have to worry about being deported under an executive order President Obama announced Thursday night.

Those who have lived here continuously for at least five years — and whose kids were born here — can breathe a sigh of relief.

They’re protected from immigration agents and can even get work permits.


For Graciela Flores, now working as a cleaning lady, the president’s new order means she can try to return to nursing, the career she had in Mexico.

Two of her three children were born here. “I would love the opportunity to work at a hospital again and serve this country,” she said.

Mexican-born Leonor Rojas says she can relax now that she can get out of the shadows because one of her five children is an American citizen.

“Now I hide from the police and immigration,” she said, recalling how she was even afraid to say anything when the woman whose house she was cleaning had her wipe her shoes.

“She didn’t even say please,” said Rojas.

One of Thursday night’s biggest winners was Jian Ling Lin, a Chinese-born mom of three caught in an immigration web in 2012 who’s facing deportation and has to wear an ankle bracelet.

Obama’s order will save her, according to her lawyer.

“I just want status so that I can be with my children and not be afraid every day. I’m very grateful to the president. Thank you, Obama.”

But others who entered the United States with their children lost out.

“My husband said we should have made another kid when we came here,” joked Donna Burnet, who came here from Guyana 10 years ago.

It was all in the timing.

Mom goes from jail to home free
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Lin Jian Ling with her children: Toby, Kyla and Mia.Photo: Paul Martinka

Jian Ling Lin spent four months in a federal prison while pregnant because of her immigration issues — and she has spent the last two years wondering every day if it will be her last in the United States.

The Chinese-born mom of three checks in weekly with immigration officials, and her 12-year-old son, Toby Shi, always begs to go along.

“He’s afraid that he won’t see me again,” said Lin, 34, in her native Mandarin, translated by her attorney Chunyu Jean Wang.

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Photo: Paul Martinka“He asks, ‘If they take you, what we are doing to do, the three of us?’ ”


But Toby won’t have to worry anymore under President Obama’s executive action, which would allow Lin to avoid deportation because her children were born in the United States.
The amnesty would also apply to their father, who is currently living illegally in another state.

“I’m very happy that now I don’t have to be afraid of being deported every time I report to ICE,” said Lin, who works part-time at a Brooklyn restaurant.

“I’m very grateful to the president. Thank you, Obama.”

Lin emigrated from the Fujian province of China 14 years ago, fleeing the country because of its one-child policy.

But her petition for asylum in the United States was denied and a deportation order was issued.

Lin was locked up in Virginia in 2012 and forced to wear a GPS ankle monitor after her release while officials attempted to send her back to China.

But Obama’s ground-breaking reform will turn her life around.

“I just want [legal] status so that I can be with my children and not be afraid every day,” said Lin.

She may even have a chance to be a legal citizen if she applies for a green card through her father, who could act as her petitioner if the deportation order is lifted.

Lia Eustachewich
Family faces split decision
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Jung Rae JangPhoto: Robert Miller

Jung Rae Jang hit the immigration jackpot in 2012. But his mom missed it in 2014.

Jang, 24, came to Virginia as a teenager with his mother, Myung Soon Choi, in 2005 on tourist visas from South Korea and both stayed after the visas expired.

They lived briefly in Maryland, North Carolina and Georgia, where Jang finished high school. When he found out he could not attend a public university in Georgia because of his undocumented status, despite his good grades, he was “devastated.”

“I kind of lost purpose,” Jang (right) said. “Why am I taking all these AP and honors courses when I know I have no chance to pursue my education?”

New York state allowed Jang to pursue his goals — but at a steep price.

Jang was accepted at Hunter College in 2010, but he had to pay out-of-state tuition of more than $6,000 in his first semester, double the resident rate.

“We realized even though we cannot get any government subsidies or financial aid because of my status, I realized I can still attend college,” he said.

Jang became eligible for the lower tuition rate two years later when a change in federal immigration policy provided deferred action to undocumented young people such as himself who were dubbed “Dreamers.”

He is now on track to receive his degree next semester and is able to work without the threat of deportation.

But he worries about his mother, who won’t be covered by President Obama’s new immigration order.

“I’m protected, but my mother could still be deported when things go wrong,” he said. “That’s personally a fear. I deeply care about her.”

Aaron Short
It’s all work and no pay
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Donna BurnettPhoto: Matthew McDermott

When she decided to stay in New York after her visa expired, Donna Burnett knew there could be risks. What she didn’t count on were the costs.

As an undocumented immigrant, Burnett has had to settle for low-wage jobs, paid nearly triple for her education and had to struggle to buy a house without a mortgage.

“My hopes and aspirations that I had upon coming here, they were basically suppressed,” said Burnett, who moved from Guyana with her husband and two daughters 10 years ago.


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Photo: Matthew McDermottHer situation may not get any better.

Because her 14- and 17-year-old daughters weren’t born in the United States, Burnett and her husband are likely to go on living as undocumented residents, despite the executive order announced Thursday by President Obama.

Burnett hopes Congress will revisit the issue because life in the shadows has been very hard. “You would go for a job, and they ask for a Social Security number,” said Burnett, 41, who worked as a travel agent in Guyana.

“You go to the agency looking for work, and the only thing you get is cleaning or baby sitting.”

Every job she has had in the US but one has paid her in cash. She has never made more than $14,000 in a year. Her husband does a little better in construction.

Burnett pursued a bachelor’s degree at John Jay College. She had to pay the $9,000 out-of-state semester tuition instead of $3,000 because she was not a legal resident.

Along the way, Burnett and her husband saw a home they liked in East Orange, NJ. Unable to get a mortgage — no Social Security number, no credit history — the couple worked extra jobs and saved their money to buy the home in cash.

“What I like to do is count my blessings,” Burnett said.

“Making sacrifices helps you to appreciate things. They don’t come easy.”

Leonard Greene
No longer stalked by fear on the job
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Leonor RojasPhoto: Gabriella Bass

She’s ready to step out of the shadows. Leonor Rojas is tired of the fear and tired of the threats.

The undocumented Mexican immigrant said she’s OK with working the jobs no one else wants: cleaning up at the Laundromat, busing tables at the restaurant.

“But that doesn’t mean we should be exploited,” Rojas said. “We don’t have any other recourse because employers may threaten to deport us if we complain.”

Rojas is ready to relax a little now that President Obama has announced new immigration policies that would protect people like Rojas from deportation.
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Leonor Rojas with her familyPhoto: Leonor Rojas

The youngest of her five children was born in the US, so Rojas, 49, can stay in New York legally and apply for a work permit and Social Security card.

“This would help me work without fear and integrate with others,” Rojas said in Spanish.

“It would alleviate my fear and help me live with more security.”

Fear of deportation has touched almost every aspect of her life. “I haven’t been to a doctor since I was pregnant,” said Rojas, who has lived in New York for 23 years and cleans homes for a living. “I’m afraid to go to the hospital or doctor because the first thing they ask for is your Social Security card or your ID.

“I never got a mammogram or pap screening or a physical check-up.”

Rojas is hopeful the new immigration changes will allow her to go visit Mexico.

“My two sisters are sick, and I haven’t been able to see them,” she said. “My parents passed away, and I was not able to go to their burial.”

Lorena Mongelli and Leonard Greene
It’s just what doctor ordered for nurse
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Graciela FloresPhoto: Gabriella Bass

With the stroke of a pen, President Obama is about to turn a cleaning lady into a nurse.

Graciela Flores is a nurse by trade, but the closest she gets to ointments or antibiotics these days is when she’s sanitizing someone’s medicine cabinet.

Flores is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, and the best jobs she has been able to find over the years involved pushing a mop or a broom.

“I used to be a nurse in Mexico,” Flores said. “I would love to be able to work as a nurse here, but because I don’t have a Social Security card, no one will hire me. I would love the opportunity to work at a hospital again and serve this country.”

She may get that chance.

Flores, 39, said she is thrilled by Obama’s plan to lift the threat of deportation for parents whose children were born in the US.

Two of Flores’ three children are natural-born citizens, a status that could get her the working papers she needs to finally get a job in her field.

But Flores said she is disappointed that Obama’s overhaul is unlikely to include ObamaCare benefits for undocumented residents.

“It isn’t fair that he won’t be extending health benefits because most of us take jobs with many risks,” said Flores, who crossed the border into San Diego 18 years ago The undocumented immigrant life has also taken it toll on her eldest daughter.

“What hurts the most, and I get a lump in my throat just talking about it, is that my daughter hasn’t been able to attend a university and study nursing as she hoped because of her immigration status,” Flores said. “She has had to give that up to work from 8 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. while paying her way through a one-year vocational school. Right now, she is studying cosmetology. I hope one day she’ll be able to do what she really wants.”

Lorena Mongelli and Leonard Greene