A Snippet of Undocumented Truth: Why is Hiding in the U.S. Better than Going Back to Brazil?
Freedom is a very personal word.
It means and resembles distinct sentiments for each being.
Freedom to vote.
Freedom of speech.
Freedom to love.
Freedom of fear.
A subjective matter that constantly evolves with time and the contemporary world.
S., a Brazilian immigrant, felt trapped in her own country, where she was not granted the freedom to be a woman nor a young worker.
“I fled Brazil because I was abused by my ex-husband and was scared of him,” she shared during the interview (S., personal communication, April 30, 2019). S. chose to leave her imprisoned life in Brazil and chase her own idea of freedom: the independence on the land of liberty, away from home and her abusive husband.
Finally, she was free! Free from her husband and the shameful glances of her past employers!
However, one freedom came at the cost of another. While being a woman and a young worker are parts of her identity that she has managed to liberate after coming to the U.S., her ethnic identity has become a new obstacle that deprives her of complete freedom. As an undocumented immigrant, S. is living in constant fear of being banned from this land of opportunity (S., personal communication, April 30, 2019).
This fear is shared by S. with thousands of other Brazilians in New York. Being undocumented is the reality of “70% of the 30,000 brazilians living in New York City” (Mikadze, 2015). As a result of this fear, the reminder of being an immigrant can never be suppressed completely. Undocumented is not only a status. It becomes a part of their identity and the everyday routine.
Nevertheless, for most undocummented Brazilians who have come to the U.S., this identity and fear is better than their reality back home. Largely due to inflation, lower and middle class Brazilians are able to earn as much as four times more working in the U.S. than back home (“Brazilians in the U.S.”, n.d.). This high income along with the chance of acquiring substantial savings become the predominant reasons for many to stay, including S. Essentially, they voluntarily choose this undocumented status for the sake of economic freedom.
S.’s story is just the tip of a giant iceberg of immigrants scattered throughout New York (Margolis, 1994). Each and everywhere, these undocumented entities come in search of their own understandings of freedom, even if the cost is physical imprisonment within the borders of the United States. For them, living in a utopian land, even if illegally, is far better than being incarcerated at home, where independence is never an option.
References
Brazilians in the U.S. (n.d.). Brown University Library. https://library.brown.edu/create/fivecenturiesofchange/chapters/chapter-9/brazilians-in-the-u-s/
Margolis, M. L. (1994). Little Brazil: An ethnography of brazilian immigrants in New York City. Princeton University Press. https://press.princeton.edu/titles/5292.html
Mikadze, K. (2015). What you don’t know about Brazucas in NYC. New Women New Yorkers. https://www.nywomenimmigrants.org/what-you-dont-know-about-brazucas-in-nyc/