40% of the 11 Million Undocumented Immigrants Entered the US Legally
This is a post I absolutely did not want to write, because I don’t want to create division, but I felt forced to in order to save my own life. I am not actually the one creating the division, I’m just exposing it. It is the DACA/DAPA legislation itself that cut the 11 million undocumented immigrants in half.
Some 5 million immigrants who entered the US illegally, without inspection or with falsified documents, would have been eligible for this form of temporary legalization under former President Obama’s Executive Action of November 2014, (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parent Arrivals would have received 3-year work permits and travel permission.)
Some 2 million have been deemed felons, some of them Illegal Entries, some of them initial Legal Entries who reentered the country illegally, (a felony exactly, if previously deported, while initial illegal entry has been considered a civil infraction,) and would not qualify.
And around 5 million entered the country legally and for various reasons overstayed. And this latter group of 5 million, officially named Legal Entries according to immigration policy, would not qualify.
When is the US going to address the 5 million Legal Entries amongst the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the media? 40% of us entered the US legally!
And especially the ones who broke no laws at all, but were excluded from marriage sponsorship through DOMA, like myself? (I basically refer to us as DOMA Victims.)
And the ones who were forced into marriages by US citizens, like myself? (We qualify for legalization under the Violence Against Women Act but one must prove the marriage to be real, which is very hard to do for a lesbian who fell victim to a heterosexual man’s abuse instead.)
Still stuck in an opposite-sex marriage for 10 years to a US husband, (primarily because of his family.)
When are they, (the US, the media, and the undocumented community itself,) going to stop focusing exclusively on Illegal Entry DACA/DAPA recipients, who have mostly heterosexual privilege, while trans- and gender nonconforming people, like myself, (a Legal Entry, former film student,) can’t even use the restroom in this country? I’m actually still being denied access to the women’s restroom on a regular basis, (by usually male security types,) while I was born, and always will be, biologically female. I have been dealing with this since my arrival 25 years ago.
DACA/DAPA recipients, (and I have for a long time now been supportive of them, emotionally and even financially, and do want us all to be able to stay in the US, while they have not exactly been supportive of me,) complain about being separated from their families, (and I do get it,) while undocumented trans/gender nonconforming immigrants like myself aren’t even allowed to have families.
They complain about being taken from their houses, while people like me can’t even get housing, and being stopped in their cars, while I still get routinely profiled for “walking while trans.” (And I just look the part, I’m not even transitioning, because I don’t feel any need to. I am female-bodied and male-gendered and perfectly okay with that, since I don’t believe in a white colonialist gender binary. I do respect any individual’s decision to transition however.)
And they talk about solidarity but have been mostly avoiding me on social media. And they talk about standing with all of the 11 million, (“11 million strong,”) but do nothing to highlight the problems of the 5 million Legal Entries, who were excluded from all the legalization legislation they designed, the DREAM Act, DACA and DAPA.
And they pretend we Legal Entries have white privilege, (admitting thereby that most of us do not come from Latin American countries,) as if there are no people of color with European citizenship, (how was US slavery even possible without European colonization first,) and do everything to erase us completely in the undocumented immigration narrative.
As a bi-racial (Dutch and Indonesian-Dutch,) trans-masculine/gender nonconforming lesbian and Dutch citizen, who moved to Los Angeles by myself at 19 in 1992 as a film student and paying thousands for doing everything legally, I am being completely erased and annihilated in the process.
I survived 7 years of sleeping on the streets, (including in Chula Vista right by the US-Mexico border,) because of a US citizen husband and his abusive family, often eating out of trashcans, while actually employed, (mostly low level film industry jobs,) and paying taxes on a real Social Security number, and have been staying in a film production office in LA for years now, without even a bed, kitchen or bathroom.
40% of the 11 million undocumented immigrants came here legally, and a whole lot amongst us from Europe, Canada, Australia, etc., and no one wants to address this fact!
When are we going to talk about the Legal Entry “Visa Overstays”?!!
When are we in fact going to admit there really is no such thing as an undocumented immigrant?
Since people who illegally cross the border, often out of desperation, (and again, which in itself since long has been considered a civil infraction and not a criminal offense,) are by definition, (United Nations definition that is,) refugees!
Refugees who did not apply for asylum that is, and who now have renamed themselves DACA/DAPA.
What about the Legal Entry LGBTQ immigrants, who did not come here as refugees, but were made undocumented by being excluded from family law immigration/marriage sponsorship, because of DOMA, and who now still can’t legalize themselves because of other laws, like the Immigration Marriage Fraud Act and IIRIRA, (3- and 10-year re-entry bars for being undocumented.)
I fortunately qualify for the Violence Against Women Act, but cannot prove my forced opposite-sex marriage is real, since I have always been openly lesbian and my husband knew this when marrying me against my will, and used this against me exactly, to keep me here illegally. (Again, his extremely religious, Trump supporting family was behind most of it.)
What about any Legal Entry immigrants, (usually women,) who are forced to overstay by abusive US citizen spouses? (Usually men.)
What about any Legal Entry trans- or gender nonconforming person who is really married for love, but simply would not get past an immigration interview for not looking “clearly” male or female? (I was actually stopped from using the women’s bathroom at the immigration building in downtown LA itself back in 1992. Male security let me in only after about 15 minutes of harrasment in the vein of me not looking like a woman. How many “butch” looking/identifying women can also relate to this experience?)
Or for not having all the immigration interview requirements, like joint leases or witnesses to their relationships, exactly because they have been federally discriminated against because of how we identify?
What about us 5 million Legal Entry immigrants who could easily face deportation under Donald Trump, and who are entirely being overshadowed and passed over in favor of the Illegal Entry (original) DACA recipients, who are literally the only ones excluded from deportation?!!
When are we going to have This Conversation about Undocumented Immigration?!!
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My name is Gabriella Bregman, I am a Hollywood-based Writer, Filmmaker and Producer, currently in production of a Feature Documentary about LGBTQ US-Immigration Exclusion-Policy, including my personal story of US immigration discrimination during DOMA, (Defense Of Marriage Act, of 1996–2015,) titled ‘The Queer Case for Individual Rights,’ through my film production company Bregman Films.
The 2001 John Cassavetes Film Retrospective ‘Gena and John: A Cassavetes Retrospective’ at the Laemmle Theatres in Los Angeles is a Bregman Films Production.
I am also the Founder of a Nonprofit Film Organization Queer Female Filmmakers Los Angeles — A Media Site & LA Film Mixers (2018.)
In 2018 I am publishing my story and essays in a book, titled ‘The Queer Case for Individual Rights & Other Essays.’
I identify as a Gender Nonconforming Lesbian, “non-op” Trans-Masculine, and Bi-Racial, from the Netherlands, Los Angeles-based.
My pronouns are: they/them/theirs.
Please check out my other articles on LGBTQ- and Immigration Issues, the State of Women and LGBTQ People in Film, and Lesbian/Queer Film as well as Queer Female Sexuality and Gender Identity at medium.com/@gabriellabregman
A few titles:
Resume/FILM BIO: Gabriella Bregman (2018) (2018)
2018 Update on Documentary ‘The Queer Case for Individual Rights’ (2018)
A Note on the State of Women in Film (2016)
A Few Notes On LGBTQ Filmmaking (2017)
Some Thoughts on the State of Lesbian Filmmaking in the US (part 1 of 5) (2018)
John Cassavetes Film Retrospective (2001) (2018)
On ‘Moonlight’ and the Subject of Positive Representation (2017)
My 2018 Oscar Pick for Best Picture (2018)
In Defense of Rationality (2018)
In Defense of Individual Rights (2018)
A Few Notes on US Immigration Exclusion Policies Towards Women- and LGBTQ Immigrants (2014)
The Root Cause Of Misogyny, And The Necessity Of Free Will (Gender Binary System notes, part 1 of 7) (2016)
The Male And Female Brain, And The “Cause” Of Transgenderism (Gender Binary System notes, part 2 of 7) (2016)
The Gender-Binary System Was Created For Population Control And Slavery, Including Sex Slavery (Gender Binary System notes, part 7 of 7)
All Articles Written by Gabriella Bregman (TM). All Pictures Owned by Gabriella Bregman (TM). All Rights Reserved (2018)
