Separated from her husband and daughter, Kamla Jaipersaud waited in her home country of Guyana for six years before she could get a visa to live in the United States.
During those years, her brother-in-law in New York worked to earn money to get her a visa. On several occasions, she traveled to New York only to return empty-handed. “That’s tough, knowing it’s there but you can’t have it,” she said.
Soon after Jaipersaud finally immigrated, she applied for a job at the university. She said the school demanded she provide her visa, Social Security number and other documentation.
With its strict hiring process and its status as a state institution, the university is not a place where one can work illegally, said Jaipersaud, now a housekeeper in Worcester Hall.
The controversial immigrant bills debated in Congress will have little impact on the university’s 1,404 immigrant workers, according to Human Resources director Dale Anderson.
To become an employee of the university, immigrants must provide proof of their status as a permanent resident alien, commonly known as a “green card holder,” or show they have a temporary legal right to be here.
The checks are not foolproof, and sometimes employees can provide a fake Social Security number, Anderson said. In the past, the university had one or two employees who were undocumented, Anderson said. However, the university’s background checks prevent them from staying long.
Immigrants form 5 percent of the university’s total employee population. Administrators estimate the percentage is much higher in areas such as residential facilities, where about 50 of the 200 employees come from outside the United States, according to Sean Ballantine, assistant to the director of facilities maintenance.
Phung Pham, another Worcester Hall housekeeper, speaks almost no English, but said she prefers living in the United States over her home country, Vietnam. Pham is a U.S. citizen thanks to her father she never met – a black American soldier who served in Vietnam.
Jaipersaud, on the other hand, agrees with the calls to restrict illegal immigration but she also empathizes with them.
She disagrees with those who say economic concerns necessitate reform, saying that few Americans would like to do her job. “We come to this country, and we work hard,” she said.
Jaipersaud and Pham have found at the university a gritty realization of the American Dream – hours upon hours of tedious labor in return for the security of benefits, legal protection and a future of opportunity.
Jaipersaud said she hopes her job will allow her 14-year-old daughter to attend the school at reduced tuition, and sees it as her ultimate goal.
