About 11.3 million people illegally immigrated to the U.S. in 2014. While the adjustment can be difficult, many — like Ginger Asian Kitchen owner Jenny Cao — choose to do so for a better life, education and job.
Six years ago, a plane from Guangzhou, China landed at the John F. Kennedy International Airport with a group of Chinese passengers without the proper legal documents.
It was the first time Jenny Cao, a 21-year-old woman at the time, traveled overseas after she resigned from her job as a saleswoman in a clothing store in China.
“When I held my small bag tightly in front of my chest, my whole property was $163 inside that handmade bag,” Cao, now the owner of Ginger Asian Kitchen on Court Street, said.
Cao showed up to a Chinese restaurant in Columbus two days after she arrived in the United States and got a job to support her family in China. She came to Athens to manage, and now own, Ginger from a relative whom she previously worked for that owned several locations of the chain. Cao said she received a green card in 2013.
According to Pew Research Center, about 11.3 million people illegally immigrated to the U.S. in 2009 — the same number reported for 2014. Facing the large population of immigrants, the Chinese American Service League, a non-profit organization, helps people, such as Cao, become legal residents in the Chicago area.
The organization is the largest, most comprehensive social service agency in the Midwest dedicated to serving the needs of Chinese Americans, according to its website.
“We call stowaways ‘undocumented people’ here,” Esther Wong, the executive director and co-founder of Chinese American Service League, said. “People without legal documents gathered together in Chinatown (in Chicago). Our job is helping them prepare for the interview with the immigration office.”
Immigrants use higher education, benefits of geographical positions and tourism as a reason to enter the country illegally even though starting a new life can be difficult, Wong added.
“Sometimes, we think that stowaways are far from us,” Jo Yin Tang, the coordinator of international student recruitment at Capital University in Columbus, said. “Some of them were probably just students here at first, but after one semester, they disappeared.”
Fengqiang Li, who works in the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China, said customs has become more strict in recent years with people holding travel visas and staying in the U.S.
Regardless of the reason, life may not be easy for these stowaways like Cao in the U.S. When Cao worked at the restaurant in Columbus when she first arrived, she said it was tough to get by.
“Competitions between people made me feel so bad,” Cao said. “I had a best friend named Susan, and our friendship broke up after she took our $300 tips away.”
Most illegal immigrants are overwhelmed because of no official business contracts, Cao said.
“I worked over 10 hours a day,” Cao said. “I had arthritis when I was 30 years old. I was too tired when I was a waitress.”
About five percent of the U.S. labor force is made up of illegal immigrants in 2014, according to Pew Research Center.
From Cao’s point of view, she said being a stowaway was a choice she had to make.
“(In China) my father lost his job when I was 17 years old,” she said. “As the eldest sister in the family, I stopped my education and became a salesperson in a local clothing store (in China). However, my younger brother and sister needed money for tuition, and my grandparents needed money to buy medicines. I had no choice.”
Wong said the majority of Chinese immigrants in Chicago come to the U.S. to have their children be educated.
“We all know they sacrificed too much for their kids,” Wong said. “Some of them work in Chinatown for their entire life, and the only roads they know are the two streets in the neighborhood.”
Homeland Security officials from the Barack Obama and George W. Bush administrations have enhanced security, and fewer immigrants are entering the U.S. illegally, according to The Washington Post.
Customs checks have thus become more rigorous, Li said, adding that they ask questions strictly and carefully and sometimes use the English language to determine general education background.
“It’s hard to say legal or illegal,” Cao said. “I was not a legal immigrant once before, but now I am. People will always find a way to get their green card. But I am pretty sure that the system will be better and better in the future.”
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