I’ve been in New York City less than a week. So far, I’ve managed to:

1. Get lost three times

2. Meet the amazing staff at NDWA (my worksite)

3. Almost sit in a pile of excrement on a subway bench

4. Survive a sudden and unexpected rainstorm

5. Learn how to use google alerts

6. Cause a sweet potato to explode in the microwave (on accident!)

7. Go for a pleasant run along the Hudson River

8. Get harassed on the street on four occasions

9. See the wonder that is Central Park

It’s been an exciting fews days.

What’s struck me the most about the city is its plethora of contradictions: A rose bush next to a heap of garbage. Efficient check-out lines in a chaotic Whole Foods. An upscale yoga class taking place next to a sleeping homeless person. A welcoming non-profit sheltered from abrasive city-life.

Yesterday, during a staff-study at my worksite, I and many of my coworkers gathered to learn about undocumented Latina women who also encountered contradictions in their lives, but on a much more serious scale. Our lecturer, Nancy Morales, taught a class on Latina domestic workers at Ithaca College and is currently working towards her PhD in the Feminist Studies program at UC Santa Barbara.

Morales took us through a brief history of Immigration legislation.

In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) was passed. IRCA granted amnesty to millions of undocumented immigrants, but it also established penalties for employers who knowingly hired undocumented immigrants. The combined affect of these two provisions restricted public assistance and social services to immigrants. In fact, immigrants faced a 5 year bar from receiving any type of public assistance.

Contradiction #1: Undocumented Latinas had the freedom to live in the U.S. yet they did not have access to resources they need to actually live in the U.S.

Latinas also had difficulty supporting their families because of uneven welfare policies. Lawmakers initially designed welfare to help women stay at home. The idea was that provisions from the state would make it so that women did not need to work, but rather, could stay home and care for their families.

Historically, women of color have performed reproductive labor for privileged white women. This societal construction greatly influenced welfare policy. Lawmakers assumed that more jobs existed for women of color because women of color had so heavily occupied the reproductive labor sector from the time of slavery. They saw no need to design laws that benefited working women, when unemployed, privileged, white women so clearly needed help. For example, the Mother’s Pension Program–established in the early 1900s–was exclusively for “fit mothers” with “suitable homes” (read: white women). At their own discretion, social workers rejected women of color’s requests for public assistance.

Contradiction #2: Even documented Latinas who needed public assistance were denied the Welfare that should have been designed to aid them.

The legacy of discriminatory welfare programs like the Mother’s Pension Program in conjunction with the continued efficacy of IRCA shape the lives of Latina Immigrants. Moreover, harsh, racist stigmas make them susceptible to arrest, deportation, and separation from their children. Morales provided this as an example.

Contradiction #3: The place many Latinas come to build a better life for their children–the United States–treats them with hostility.

They deserve better.