My Heart Can't Rest Here

NEWARK, NJ— Between President Barack Obama’s record-breaking deportations and the former presidential candidates’ policy proposals, much of today’s social and political discourse has been about immigrants and immigration. How do immigrants contribute to America? How have they changed—or as some would argue, harmed—America’s job force and economy? What effects have immigrants had on American culture and daily life?

These questions are often left unanswered—or answered inaccurately. It’s not often that we come across statistics that show us that even though immigrants represent only 16% of Americans holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, they represent 33% of engineers, 27% of mathematicians, statisticians, and computer sciences, and 24% of physical scientists, according to the Census Bureau. We forget that immigrants are 30% more likely to start a business in the U.S. than non-immigrants, according to the Small Business Administration, or that 7.5% of immigrants are self-employed, compared to 6.6% of non-immigrants, according to the Department of Labor. Even undocumented immigrants help America’s economy, contributing approximately $11.64 billion in taxes each year, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

These numbers, however, are also easy to forget, unless immigration is your area of expertise. To help us understand how deeply present immigrants are in our every day lives and to better understand the lives they lead, I decided to interview Mahmoud Aid, one of the two men who operates the Halal R Us food truck parked on Warren Street between University Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard.

The Halal R Us truck caught my eye early in the fall semester when I was walking to Bradley Hall and noticed a large crowd of students hovering on the sidewalk between Olson Hall and the Life Sciences building. Apparently, they were all waiting for their orders of chicken platters, baba ghanoush sandwiches, and falafel salads.

Aid, who is 30 years old, won the visa lottery and emigrated from Cairo a little over two years ago.

“The situation in Egypt is hard,” Aid said. “You can work all day, and the compensation is very weak.”

Aid, 30, prepares vegetables and meat for a platter. DINA SAYEDAHMED/SCARLET MAGAZINE

Aid left Egypt three years after the January 25th uprising, when millions of Egyptians took the Tahrir Square demanding the fall of the regime. Between then and now, Egypt has seen a president-dictator removed, several episodes of fatal police-civilian clashes, a fair and free election, protests, a military overthrow of the newly elected president, a massacre, and a shiny, new president-dictator who, miraculously, secured 97% of the peoples’ votes and now effectively silences protest and dissent.

“When I left Egypt, political instability was at the forefront of our problems,” Aid recalls. “Everyone’s main concern was political freedom because we had no political freedom. Now, there is no political freedom and no affordable food or clean water. Necessary staples like bread, sugar, rice, and coffee are unaffordable now and even difficult to find.”

When Aid prepared to emigrate, he chose New York from among the other 49 states because he had heard of other Egyptians who also immigrated to New York. He immediately began working in the food and restaurant industry, which was easy to adjust into because food and tourism were his professions in Egypt.

“I came here specifically to work,” Aid says. “I have responsibilities that need to be met in Egypt and a family to provide for. I’m not here to learn or do anything, really, but work.”

Like many Egyptian immigrants I spoke with, Aid began working a few days after settling down. His spends his days between his apartment, sleeping, and the food truck, working.

“Most food trucks in New York are operated by Egyptians,” Aid says. “All the Egyptian immigrants go to either the food trucks or work at Steinway and they stay there or move on if they find something better. That’s what I’m doing.”

Aid (right) prepares vegetables and meat for a platter while his coworker (left) packages the food. DINA SAYEDAHMED/SCARLET MAGAZINE

Steinway is a street in Astoria, Queens, a portion of which is dubbed “Little Egypt” due to the large number of Egyptians living and working there. Aid, who lives on Steinway Street, says that being surrounded by Egyptians has helped him adjust to America, especially because the supermarkets on Steinway Street sell the same types of tea, drinks, and foods that are also sold in Egypt. However, despite this, Aid says that he is still very conscious of his status as an immigrant.

“You feel like an outsider or a stranger here [in America],” Aid says. “You can have a lot of friends and co-workers who share your background, but you all experience the same longing for home. In each others’ company, you might feel less lonely and less vulnerable, but you all share a collective emptiness.”

Aid says that although America does shine with cleaner streets and more social freedoms, he still hopes to retire in Egypt.

“America is nice with her money and her options and freedoms, but my heart can’t rest here,” Aid says. “I hope Egypt picks herself up because when the time comes, I want to retire in my country.”

Published by Scarlet Magazine.