Angelo Mathay, an undocumented child brought to America by his mother, was never able to attend his father’s funeral in the Philippines because he would be refused entry to the US.

Los Angeles–A standing-room-only crowd filled Remy’s Place on Temple Art Gallery last week for a special book party in conjunction with the Smithsonian/University of Hawaii exhibition, Singgalot:  The Ties that Bind, on the history of Filipino immigration to the US that closes in October 2008.

The book, Underground Undergrads:  UCLA Undocumented Students Speak Out, profiles eight UCLA students, half of them Asian American, who describe the plight of undocumented college students who were brought as young children to the US and their struggle to complete their education.  They are unable to legally work, obtain drivers licenses in California, and are barred from many other rights afforded their classmates.

Because the students are “out-of-status,” they are ineligible for any government financial aid and struggle to stay in school by taking jobs where they are paid “under the table,” living with family far from campus and taking long daily commutes on public transportation, and withdrawing from school when funds are low.

The Honorable Mike Eng (49th Assembly District) opened the program by commending Remy’s founder Joselyn Geaga-Rosenthal and UCLA Labor Center Director Kent Wong for co-sponsoring the event to break the Asian American community’s silence about Asian families who have overstayed tourist and work visas.  He also applauded the bravery of the UCLA students who are lobbying for the California and federal Dream Acts which would respectively provide government financial aid and a path to citizenship for undocumented college students.

Four of those students, some recent graduates (Filipino, Vietnamese, and South Asian), told their personal stories to the rapt audience.  Tam Tran spoke of her parents’ journey from Vietnam as boat people to Germany, where she and her brother were born.  Her family moved to the US, but because her father lost his work permit, the government moved to deport the family.  Because Germany does not grant citizenship at birth, Tam and her brother are stateless–not citizens of the US, Germany, or Vietnam, a country she has never visited.  She is in a permanent state of limbo, unable to legally claim any country as her own.  Tam told the audience, “Forty percent of undocumented students at UC campuses are Asian.  But you would never know it because of the stigma about something which is not our fault.”

Angelo Mathay’s mother brought him to the US from the Philippines at age six, presumably for a vacation.  He was surprised to learn that she didn’t intend to return in order to escape the tsismis (gossip) that resulted from Angelo’s out-of-wedlock birth.  Years later, Angelo was unable to return to the Philippines even for his father’s funeral because he would not be re-admitted to the US.

He told the audience about how some Filipinos are in hiding–”tago ng tago” (hide and hide). But, he says, “We have to come out of the shadows if we want to change immigration policy.”

Zeenat Bhamani, a Pakistani undergraduate, spoke of her family’s and the larger South Asian community’s feelings of shame about being undocumented.  She said, “Especially in a post-9/11 world, we have to claim our full identities if we want equal treatment and an end to discrimination.”

Stephanie Solis did not learn she was undocumented until she was 18 and announced to her parents that it was time to apply for a driver’s license, passport, and college.  They finally disclosed to her that because of her status, she was not entitled to many of these rights.

She admitted, “Yes, it is scary to stand at press conferences, or hearings, or speaking engagements and be identified as undocumented, but it would be much more scary if we didn’t speak out.”