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As an undocumented worker, I cleaned Trump's golf club. Now, I'm a voice for all immigrants.
I am undocumented, but I am not a violent criminal. Millions of immigrants like me live in the shadows, afraid to emerge because of Trump's rhetoric.
When I was a child, my father was murdered in front of me and my siblings. After I was married and had left Guatemala, my children also witnessed a similar tragedy when my husband’s father also was murdered in front of their eyes.
Violence, corruption and poverty: Perhaps you can see why I chose to flee to America. So I walked and bused to this great country from Guatemala in 1999.
My children, husband and I built a life in New Jersey, and, in 2013, I began working at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, cleaning suites and surrounding businesses, as well as cleaning Mr. Trump’s and Ivanka Trump’s houses. The hours were long, but I made friends, and I could feed my children. The club always knew I was undocumented; I told them so before I was hired. No matter, they said, your old false documents will do.
Once Mr. Trump's presidential campaign began, life at the club changed. I guess they were more concerned about our status, so my supervisor asked for a good set of papers in order to continue working there. When I reminded him that I was undocumented, he simply provided me with the documentation necessary to continue working. In fact, he had someone take my photograph in the laundry room of the club to use for the new identification card and lent me money to purchase new papers.
To make it even easier, he had his cousin, a fellow employee, drive me to a nearby town to get the new set of false documents. When I got the new set of documents, my supervisor told me to hide them, and said that if the police saw them, I’d be arrested.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2019/02/14/victorina-morales-donald-trump-golf-course-immigrant-column/2837895002/
When I was a child, my father was murdered in front of me and my siblings. After I was married and had left Guatemala, my children also witnessed a similar tragedy when my husband’s father also was murdered in front of their eyes.
Violence, corruption and poverty: Perhaps you can see why I chose to flee to America. So I walked and bused to this great country from Guatemala in 1999.
My children, husband and I built a life in New Jersey, and, in 2013, I began working at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, cleaning suites and surrounding businesses, as well as cleaning Mr. Trump’s and Ivanka Trump’s houses. The hours were long, but I made friends, and I could feed my children. The club always knew I was undocumented; I told them so before I was hired. No matter, they said, your old false documents will do.
Once Mr. Trump's presidential campaign began, life at the club changed. I guess they were more concerned about our status, so my supervisor asked for a good set of papers in order to continue working there. When I reminded him that I was undocumented, he simply provided me with the documentation necessary to continue working. In fact, he had someone take my photograph in the laundry room of the club to use for the new identification card and lent me money to purchase new papers.
To make it even easier, he had his cousin, a fellow employee, drive me to a nearby town to get the new set of false documents. When I got the new set of documents, my supervisor told me to hide them, and said that if the police saw them, I’d be arrested.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2019/02/14/victorina-morales-donald-trump-golf-course-immigrant-column/2837895002/
