Noel Fernandez

Oral History of Freddy Fernandez

Freddy Fernandez is a 43 year old man of Dominican descent. He has a wife, a 14 year old boy, a 15 year old boy and a 12 year old girl. We sat together on a gloomy Monday night to talk about immigration. Nobody except us was in the room so the room was quiet throughout the interview.

The biggest problem with immigration is that there are so many problems with people’s jobs, no houses to live in. They also need to find jobs. That’s why you see a lot of immigrants out on the street. I lived in Dominican Republic and I had a little hard working life. But I had a good life. My life was okay, I didn’t have any problems and I had my family to take care of me. I didn’t really have a struggling life (pause) we were a little poor but we got by.

The reason I left DR was because some of my family was here, my brother [and] my father. I just came here to get a better opportunity and find a good job. As the years went by and I got older I wanted a better life. When I came to America, the year was 1985 and I was about 19 years old. When I came, I came with my sister Gisela. I came here in a plane. I was a little nervous because it’s a different and bigger country; I came from a little town. All I brought was my clothes and my belonging.

When I got here I was planning to go back to school but I got a job so I never went back.When I was already in America I only knew a little English. I learned from the people around me [who knew both languages]. When I got a job at a restaurant there was one guy that started teaching me English and I got better at it.

My first job was at a restaurant, I was a dish cleaner and then I got promoted to salad man and then Chef. Then I moved with some guys to another restaurant and worked there for 19 years.

Coming to America affected me in a positive way. Everything went good for me. No problems.(Pauses) I love America! I started to live with two of my brothers and my father in Manhattan for some years and I had no problems living there. Then I went back to DR about 2 years later. The year was 1987 and I was about 22 years old. While I was in DR again, I got married to my girlfriend.

I came back again by myself. It was easier than the first time. I don’t like planes. I was already used to flying. Things went as planned for me, I never had a problem and I had a family here and that’s it. I don’t have any regrets about coming here because it was a good life.

Looking back, over the years, immigration has changed. There were no chasing, no problems. But now there are people getting sent back to their homes. It was a better time back then. Today it’s twice as worse than when I came to America. That's why immigration is an important topic going on in the world.