Mused by the folk of Bob Dylan and grounded in the insight of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Antonella Pagani went from a small beach-town in Uruguay, to attending the honors college of Florida on a full-ride scholarship. But you know what is even more fascinating?
She did it all without a “green card” or legal citizenship.
Young and ambitious, Giuliano and Ivana Pagani brought Antonella and her brother Mateo to the states when she was in fourth grade. Like many immigrants in U.S. history, they were searching for higher opportunities for their children and family. With nothing to stand on but a Uruguayan high school diploma and an incomparable work ethic, Giuliano ascended from painting houses to a managerial position at a construction company in Connecticut. Ivana has since started “Espanol Sur LLC”, a tutoring company for adults and children wishing to learn Spanish. Mateo is studying business at Bentley University in Boston.
The Pagani family pays their taxes in full.
They are not clogging up the healthcare system.
They are not causing commotion in the streets or trouble for police authorities.
They are a living example that components of the “American Dream” still exist — proving that immigrants are an irreplaceable force in a progressive society. Yet even with their success, obtaining “green cards” with our lottery system was no walk in the park. In fact, it took more than a decade for their luck to triumph.
Not all immigrants are so lucky.
Argentine citizen Guille Soto was taken to the states when he was three. With the help of a Mormon missionary, his father was able to secure a job in Utah as a bishop. Soto attended school, held jobs at call centers, and was even on the tennis team. But in his junior year of high school, he received some life-changing news.
“When I was 17 my parents told me that I was illegal,” Soto said. “I didn’t know my whole life. It came as a shock. I didn’t even know Argentina. I barely spoke Spanish except with my parents. And, I certainly didn’t consider myself Argentine. I became pissed at everything. I knew what it could imply, living illegally. I knew what it implied, and that it wasn’t easy.”
Soto trucked on.
He graduated high school with aspirations of studying film and communications at the University level. Yet even though he had lived in Utah his whole life, he would pay out-of-state tuition because of his immigration status.
“My family always paid taxes,” he said. “My dad worked legitimately for 20 years. He’ll never see a dime of social security.”
Soto attended state college for a year in Utah, paying out-of state tuition out of his own pocket. To supplement the high cost, he held jobs at three different TV stations and a few call centers. In order to obtain the jobs, he had to provide a fake social security number.
During work one day at the call center, his boss called him into the office.
“He told me they had some problems with my paperwork,’” Soto said. “I just said ‘yeah this has happened before. I think someone is using my number.’ The next day I just didn’t show up.”
Talk about job security.
“It’s frustrating because it is supposedly the best system there is. It’s supposed to be just. In Utah I was basically a criminal for living there,” he said.
Soto had a car, a job, and a girlfriend. As far as he was concerned, he was riding the wave of the American dream. Yet every day, the challenges of living illegal plagued his achievements.
“The biggest thing that got to me was the lack of rights. Say you’re an illegal and your house gets broken into or you get mugged. If you call the police for help and they decide to check your immigration status, they can deport you,” he said. “You’ve basically been stripped of everything.”
With expensive tuition bills and the constant threat of deportation, Guille Soto decided to return to his homeland; where basic rights like police protection were guaranteed and free education and healthcare would assist, rather than hinder his aspirations.
When he told his father, his reply was candid.
“He said to me when I first wanted to move that they came to the U.S. for a better life,” Soto said. “He said it was ironic that I decided to leave for a better life.”
One day Soto’s father received a note on his car at church. It read ‘go back to your country, border-hopper.’ Soto said other than the educational opportunities he had in Argentina, he left the United States because of the idea of a first world country. The ‘land of opportunity’ and open-mindedness didn’t seem to exist.
“The U.S.A. was built as a nation of immigrants,” he said. “But those days are over.”
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