Jessica’s Declaration
Maria lives in the State of Oregon, after moving from California. She had originally come from Mexico right after graduating from high school with others her age, including her own friends from high school, feeling as if she were going on a field trip to sunny and free California.
Maria was so young that she was able to acquire her English skills quickly while cleaning offices and buildings through chatting in English with anyone she finds friendly. Life in the USA was fun and refreshing for Maria. She gained a feeling of independence instead of the posture of submission she would have learned in her own country. Maria liked America.
At the age of twenty, when she moved north to Oregon, Maria met Jose who was working at construction sites. She fell in love with Jose, who behaved much older than Maria. At the beginning of their relationship, Jose told her that he had left three children behind in Mexico and he intended to go back there. His wife had died when she gave birth to the third child.
Jose and Maria started living together, and Maria gave birth to a baby girl whom they named Jessica. The story so far is a common one in modern days America, where tens of millions of Mexicans reside as if they were in their own land.
Now when Jessica is only four, Jose decides to go back to Mexico to look after the children he left behind. Jose thinks he has saved up enough money to take care of the children his mother has been taking care of.
Soon after Jose leaves for Mexico, Maria realizes that her visa expired a long time ago, while she was caught up in working many hours and taking care of her family. She hadn’t even thought about her visa or other documents that had to be renewed after a certain period of stay in America. Her busy life and the comfortable surroundings of the nest she had built for her family made her feel completely at home and independent. She lacked any consciousness of being a foreigner who had to report to government authorities regarding her stay regularly. Or, more precisely, she hadn’t paid the necessary attention to her visa status because that had originally been taken care of by the recruiter who had disappeared as soon as he’d placed Maria and other teens in California jobs.
Thinking about her expired visa, Maria works day and night until she gets completely exhausted and crawls under a thin blanket for a short night’s sleep. Maria feels her hard work somehow redeems her from the undocumented status she has obtained. She knows that she came to America to work and that she does.
Maria and Jessica move to a smaller apartment to cut back on living expenses. It is a one-room studio with a kitchen and dining area not separated by a door. They have a round table with two chairs in the middle of the dining space and two beds placed close to each other in the main part of the room.
Maria’s cell phone rings as she is putting Jessica to bed. No one but Jose would call at this time of day, she thinks.
“Maria, please come back to Mexico with Jessica. Mexico has changed for the better, and things here are not bad at all.” Jose wants to impress Maria.
“Dad, this is Jessica. Would you please come back to us? Mom and I are waiting for you.” Having grabbed the phone from her mother, Jessica pleads with her father in a very serious tone of voice, as if she is representing the family for its decision.
“Why don’t you come visit Mexico yourself, honey? You would love it,” Jose proposes something new to Jessica. Maria takes the phone back from her daughter and tells Jose that it is late and he should call earlier next time in consideration of his daughter’s bedtime.
Maria works for one of the gyms that are mushrooming throughout America. She wipes and cleans treadmills and stair-masters after people sweat their energy off onto the machines. Sometimes she moves the heavy machinery by herself to vacuum the floors underneath. She gets up at three and starts working at four in the morning. Maria wakes Jessica at three and drops her off at a friend’s house so that she can catch a bit more sleep before going to school with the friend’s child.
Jose’s suggestion that Jessica should visit Mexico by herself stays in Maria’s mind while cleaning at the gym. Jessica is six and can travel alone under the airlines’ escort program. A flight attendant escorts the child and makes sure of the safe transfer of the child to a designated local guardian at the destination.
Maria decides to apply for an American passport for Jessica and visits a nearby post office. She takes Jessica’s birth certificate with her as official evidence of Jessica’s American citizenship. It will be good for Jessica to visit her father and her grandparents in Mexico, and it will give Maria a chance to enjoy some freedom and solitude without a dependant around. Jessica won’t have to be dragged out of bed at three in the morning. What a relief! And it will be a great experience for her even if only for a brief summer time.
“We need both parents’ signatures on an application for a minor,” the passport clerk at the window declares. She is looking at Maria with a smile as if to say that it’s no big deal. “Please come back with your husband or take this form with you and have him sign.”
“I actually don’t know where her father is living now, since he’s gone back to Mexico and hasn’t informed me of his new address.”
“In that case, your signature alone will do, but you’ll need to provide a statement as to why the father’s signature is missing. We’ll also need to see your documents, to verify your identification as well.” The explanation clearly demands the immigration documents.
“Jessica’s trip is up in the air already,” Maria realizes that this puts the plan on hold indefinitely. She cannot present her documents to the authorities in order to apply for Jessica’s American passport. Maria thanks the passport clerk and leaves the post office.
“Jessica, dear, do you know that you need a small booklet called a passport to go to Mexico? Since you are American, you need an American passport.“ Maria talks to Jessica after picking her up at her kindergarten. “Mommy tried to apply for your passport today and found out that we need your dad’s signature as well as mine. You’re still a child, and both of your parents need to sign for you. But your dad’s in Mexico, so far away, and it’ll be hard to get him sign the paper, dear. Will you be very disappointed at not being able to go to see Daddy? ”
Maria does not explain that her own signature alone will do if she provides a letter and other immigration documents. It would be asking too much for Jessica to understand why she needs so many different papers just to fly over to see her dad. Maria would risk getting caught and deported right away if she was found to be staying in America without proper documents. A little American girl could never understand her mother’s complicated dilemma. Maria glances in the rear-view mirror, which shows her daughter’s face, smiling and content as always after being picked up by mother. Maria is driving with the care of a hired chauffeur and getting closer to home.
Jessica’s declaration
“Mom, I don’t want to go to Mexico, leaving
you all alone. I am happy being with you here. I’ll wait for the day when we
can both visit Mexico together,” Jessica declares at the dinner table, her big
eyes full of wishes for the future. She smiles at her mother, looking for her
approval. Jessica has finally decided her response to what she understood her
mother’s findings about a passport. Not in detail, but roughly, She understands
that her mother can’t get the necessary papers for the passport. That means
Jessica cannot go to Mexico and cannot see Daddy, Grandpa and Grandma. But so
what?
She knows clearly that she likes living with her mother here in America and does not want to lose the time they spend each evening around the round table talking about what has happened at school and what she wants to do over the weekend or in the future. Jessica knows clearly that is what makes her happy and that she does not want to lose it. Maria stands up and smiles at Jessica, postponing her before-dinner prayer. She comes around to her daughter and hugs her tight. (The end)
©2007 Miyoko Mary Katabami