When does life become fair (for a Cambodian man)?

By Wendy Castor Hess

Clinton and Obama are battling it out, taking constant swipes at each other. In the meantime, McCain is eagerly gathering ammunition to direct at whoever wins, if we can even use the word “win”, when referring to the Democratic nomination. As Democratic pollsters tell it, the African American vote, until this election year often dormant and uninterested, has now been awakened and is eagerly embracing Obama, who is the embodiment of the American promise—anyone, no matter what their race or sex, can become our next President, as long as that person was born in the U.S. (naturalized U. S. citizens cannot become President). The word on the street is that this Obama group won’t turn up at the polls if their candidate doesn’t get the Democratic Presidential nod. On the other side of the street, Clinton advocates are threatening to vote for McCain if their candidate doesn’t get the nod. Against this backdrop we find Mark and so many others like him. Mark is 25, a construction worker. He speaks impeccable English which he should since he has been here since age 7, over 18 years and “looks” American. However, he is far from American in immigration status; he is totally illegal. Mark’s mother, of Cambodian descent, brought him to the U.S. when he was a child. His father, of Japanese descent, met his mother while he was working in Cambodia. He whisked her off to the United Arab Emirate, where Mark was born. Mark does not speak Japanese or Arabic, only a smattering of Cambodian and, of course, English. Mark was a top student until 9th grade, when his public school kept asking him for a social security number so that he could sit for the SAT exam. Mark didn’t know how to respond for he knew that he was illegally present in the U.S. and couldn’t produce a social security number. Confused, upset and worried, Mark did the only thing that he could: he dropped out of school.Today, Mark sits in my office, hoping that I will offer him the ticket to security: the promise of a green card. After all, his mother is now a Lawful Permanent resident, soon to be a U.S. citizen, and can, even now, file an immigrant visa petition for him (with a waiting period of 4-7 years). His three siblings are also U.S. citizens and they, too, can file immigrant visa petitions for him (with a waiting period of c.14 years). However, nothing was ever filed for Mark on or before the magic date of April 30, 2001, which would render him 245i eligible. Even if Mark is a patient man and waits for his turn on their petitions for him to be reached, he will be ineligible to obtain his “green card” within the U.S. and will have to depart, apply at a U.S. Embassy in Cambodia, and seek a waiver of the 10 year bar—the bar that applies because he has been illegally present in the U.S. for over 1 year. It does not matter that Mark, at age 7, had no input or choice in “his” decision to enter the U.S. and overstay, over 18 years ago and today is being punished for his non-choice. It does not matter that Mark pays taxes with his ITIN—his Taxpayer Identification number—religiously, has never been in trouble and is exactly the type of neighbor that you and I want. What matters is that he is here illegally, with no immediate or 100% foolproof remedy under the Immigration laws. His employer, who desperately needs him and wants to sponsor him, even knowing that it creates great liability for him to do so, can do nothing to help.So, as Clinton, Obama and McCain attack each other, I ask them: What about Mark and the others like him? What are we, the United States, a country once upon a time known as a great humanitarian nation, going to do to help Mark? Mark and I wait, in deadened silence, for the candidates’ answers and for life to become fair.