Zuleica Got Busted

Zuleica has cleaned our house every other Thursday for seven years, but after a routine speeding stop without a driver’s license she has quickly gone back to Brazil. That’s about all we know, except that she is hoping to come back “when the papers go through”, and we think she has gone with her one year old but without her husband.

I feel badly for Zuleica and for the baby. She has family in Brazil, but she must have stayed here because she wanted to, and her child is a US citizen whose opportunities will be greater here. What I do not know is whether I think Zuleica’s apparently forced return is “wrong” in any way that makes sense to me. At the personal level I am reminded of Alicia Silverstone’s dissertation in “Clueless” that when uninvited guests come to the dinner party we ought to be able to make room at the table.

And we are hardly innocent. We and our half dozen friends for whom Zuleica worked never asked about her citizenship status. As if it were someone else’s problem, but in fact we were deeply complicit. Also – I am supposed to know these things, but I have somehow avoided knowing how much I can pay Zuleica each year without withholding taxes, as I have avoided knowing how much I actually pay her. I did not want to fill out the paperwork and I did not want to ask Zuleica for her social security number. No heroes here.

The ladies had a nice shower for Zuleica’s baby. I hope “the papers” go through, but in the meantime Zuleica has arranged for Daniella to clean the houses. My head is in the sand, but I remain torn between sympathy for Zuleica and understanding that The Guardians of the Borders do what they do.