Mr. Lee's Article - "An Illegal Immigrant's Tale - From Rags
To Stardom" as Published in the World Journal on April 5, 2009
Last month, I and my wife Lijing met with and had dinner with Tehching
Hsieh and his wife Qinqin, and I had occasion to again think that
America should embrace and be tolerant of its illegal immigrants,
because you never know from where genius will spring. Tehching came
to the U.S. as a crewman from Taiwan, jumping ship on the Delaware
River in 1974, and dodged immigration authorities for 14 years before
obtaining permanent residence in 1988 under the legalization program.
He told us that he worked in Chinese restaurants cleaning up after
closing because he never wanted to wear a white apron. He was afraid
that if he worked during regular hours and the restaurant was raided
by INS, he would be too conspicuous running down the street in an
apron. He did many menial jobs over the years, including construction,
and in 1982 while living homeless on the street for 1 year to create
his “Outdoor” project piece, he was arrested for using
a nunchaku stick which he carried in his rucksack for protection.
Tehching said that on that occasion, he was attacked by angry owner
for staying in front of his building. Yet during that period, Tehching
created some of the most brilliant and compelling art for which
he is now being honored in simultaneous shows at the Guggenheim
Museum and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. He has lately
been the subject of laudatory articles by critics of the New York
Times and other art media. His one-man show, "Cage Piece"
runs at MOMA until May 18th. His time clock piece in "The Third
Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989" runs through
April 19th. His life and works have been published in a large book,
Out of Now, by MIT Press, and he was recently awarded a $50,000
grant, his first, by United States Artists. When we visited the
museums with Tehching and Qinqin earlier in the day, we could see
the banners on the light posts outside the Guggenheim featuring
his timeclock work.
Tehching came to this country in a more relaxed time for undocumented
immigrants. With today's emphasis on enforcement and raids, he would
be in much more danger of deportation than in the 1970's and 1980's.
Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility
Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) which stiffened many of the existing immigration
laws. He would possibly have already been swept up in the Bush Administration's
mass raids since 2007, and his arrest in 1982 would have been certain
ground for removal under today's law. We now expect our immigrants
to be angels and saints before they can be admitted, and some misdemeanors
are counted as aggravated felonies for which there is no possibility
of forgiveness during the individual's lifetime. That is a far cry
from the purpose of the aggravated felony provision when it was
introduced in 1988 as a means for singling out the worst criminals
for special treatment and first defined aggravated felony only as
murder, drug trafficking, and firearms trafficking.
Tehching's immigration case of sneaking into the country and being
arrested for small offenses over the years is a common tale. The
problem is that over the years many petty offenses have been upgraded
in seriousness for immigration purposes. One recent example is a
clerk or cashier selling knock-off handbags or purses or watches
being now designated a person with a crime involving moral turpitude.
But in such case, there is no intent to defraud the buyer as the
buyers know that the bags are fake just from the cheap location
and price alone. Who knows how many of the undocumented who have
run afoul of U.S.I.C.E. ( the enforcement arm of legacy INS) or
the police have innate genius to make fascinating art or build large
organizations or do other great things if given a chance. We should
remember that most of those who sneak into this country are the
most ambitious of their countries' young and not willing to remain
locked in their countries' old systems. And even if not them, many
of their children become the builders of this nation. Tehching's
tale of being an illegal immigrant for 14 years and spending 35
years here in obscurity before his genius was finally recognized
in 2009 is a strong argument for more tolerance to immigrants, even
of the undocumented variety.
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