June 28, 2007
Bus Tales, Immigration, Presidential Candidates and the Bronx
Zoo
On a recent Friday morning, The Three Tomatoes
hopped on the bus at Madison and 54th Street where we were heading for a rendezvous at the Bronx Zoo with three very special little people. We got
on the empty bus, which stayed empty all the way to the zoo, and in a New York minute we were soon deep into a conversation with our Irish bus driver
from the Bronx, who’s been driving professionally for twenty-seven years.
The Pulse of the City
Our conversation started with our bus driver explaining Bloomberg’s plan to
charge people who drive in the City in prime time hours. A plan which he agrees with and actually helped us understand for the
first time, we might add. We then asked him if he thought the Mayor would run for president, which led to us into a conversation
about our former Mayor Rudy, as a candidate. His take was any Mayor who wanted to shut down the food cart vendors because he
once got diarrhea from a hot dog stand, and then went after the cab companies because he once sat on gum in the back seat of a cab, doesn’t
have the temperament to become president. He did like the fact that when Rudy was being questioned by the press about his then
girlfriend, and now wife ( who was his girlfriend when there was a previous wife), he basically told them it was none of their
business. And he went on to defend Clinton and the Monica mess too. As he said, who wouldn’t have
lied with their wife and daughter standing there? And if he, Mr. Bus Driver, had an affair, would that mean he
couldn’t drive a bus? And then he said, “I’m going to vote for the Democrats”, and
when we asked which one, he said Hillary because “she’s for the people.” And how so we asked? At which point
his story began to unfold.
Marrying an “Illegal”
You see, in 2004 Mr. Bus Driver married a lovely woman from Guatemala whom he met
and fell in love with a year or so before, fully aware of her background. In 1994, at the age of 18, she got to the U.S. via
a canoe to Mexico, and from Mexico across desert and other travails before she found her way to New York in search of a better life.
She spoke not a word of English, but did manage to obtain a three year work visa. She worked menial jobs
while learning the language. In 1997, the U.S. government would not renew her visa, so rather than return to her dangerous
country, where it was impossible to eek out a living, she did what so many aliens before her have done, she just stayed.
She went on to get honors in English as a second language from Hunter College, and then got her GED, which she passed with flying colors in
English and then learned word processing and other computer skills. She supported herself and ultimately met Mr. Bus driver. They
fell in love, and were married by a New York State Judge in a courthouse ceremony.
The Deportation
A year later, in 2005, immigration authorities showed up at Mr. Bus Driver’s
place of work and hauled him into court on charges of “harboring an illegal.” A charge that was quickly
dismissed by the judge who said, he was harboring his wife. To which immigration argued that his marriage
should be nullified because he knew he was marrying an “overstay.” To which the Judge explained that another NY
State judge had married them, and that was that. However, his wife was immediately deported to Guatemala.
Mr. Bus Driver bought her a house there so she’d be somewhat safe and he makes trips there as often as he can afford
them. He has been robbed at machine gun point of all his money and his wedding ring while visiting, by the
way. In the meantime, he paid her “overstay fine” which was $8,000, taxes on her wages, and $12,000 to
an attorney to help him with the paper work to attempt to get her back. And only because as he said later to a judge, the
paperwork might as well have been in Japanese.
A Happy Ending
His attempts to get her back in the U.S. were going no
where. He even attempted to find the Homeland Security office at their P.O. Box in Vermont, hoping to plead his case in
person -- driving there to find out there is no building or office. Then one day he sat down and wrote a letter which, in his
words “would make the devil cry”, to Hillary Clinton and sent along all the paper work showing his efforts to get his wife
back. Two months went by and he heard nothing. He then walked into her Third Avenue
office and told the receptionist he was opening a new deli and could he have the fax machine number to send the menus. He then
proceeded to fax all 780 pages of documentation to Hillary’s office. Very shortly after that he received notification from
Homeland Security for an interview. He brought all the numerous items they asked for, but was unable to comply with one key
request -- he was supposed to bring his wife along to the interview. Is this sounding like Catch
22? He finally got before a judge to plead his case, and just as we got to the parking lot of the Bronx Zoo, he told
us his wife is getting her green card, and “they” will be flying her back to the U.S., first class, on October 2nd , two
years after her deportation. While neither Hillary, nor her office has ever contacted him directly, he credits her with getting
his wife back.
We wished him well, and headed to the zoo
We left the bus, realizing we didn’t even know this man’s
name. And all through the day, as we walked through the beautiful wooded pathways of the Bronx Zoo, visited the Gorillas who are now free, while we people are caged in a glass room looking out on them, explored the fantastic
Butterfly Gardens, and laughed and
giggled with the three precious ones, his story stayed with us.
Here’s to happy endings.
‘til next week,
The Three Tomatoes
Copyright©2007. The Three Tomatoes. All
rights reserved.
