THE GREAT DIVIDE: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ON ONE DAY : BUSINESSMAN

NAME: Michael Qu

AGE: 40

WORK: Imports latex gloves from mainland China.

HOME: Temple City

IMMIGRATION STATUS: Legal resident since July. Qu has overstayed his visa, but because he arrive here before April, 1990, he was eligible for legal status under the Chinese Student Protection Act, which is not limited to students.

“Several friends of mine, they are working in restaurants. Those employers employ them because they don’t have legal status. My wife came on a six-month visitor’s visa. Within six days she was working.

“There are some other waitresses who work with her that don’t have a a visa. When the INS came to the business, all of them had to run out back. It is very hard for my wife. In China she was a doctor.

“A lot of times I think back on my life before now. I think back on when I was young. Everything was given to me by the army.

“There’s a movie that’s very popular in China now called ‘A Native of Beijing in New York.’ It opens like this: ‘If you love someone, you send them to New York, because it is paradise. If you hate someone, you send them to New York, because it is hell.’ That’s how I feel about my life here.”