Does anyone else watch The Good Place? I really enjoy it. I like the whole cast and think I follow most of them on Twitter as a result. Ted Danson is having such a good time in his role. It’s fun to watch.
A supporting cast member has been getting headlines this week. Bambadjan Bamba admitted that he is undocumented and protected by the DACA program. Bambadjan’s character was named Bambadjan after him. He was not featured much last season but has a recurring role this season. In his audition he told The Good Place creator, Michael Schur, that he was from the Ivory Coast but did not admit he was undocumented until Tuesday. He has lived in the US since he was 10 years old, after his family fled a civil war.
Bambadjan Bamba, an actor best known for his recurring role on NBC’s The Good Place, on Tuesday chose to reveal that he is undocumented as part of an effort to push for immigration reform.
“I encourage everybody to tell their story and tell it often and tell it as loud as possible the same way I’m doing, and I’m trying to lead by example because the last thing I want is for an American person to say, ‘Hey, I don’t know anybody that’s undocumented,” Bamba told BuzzFeed News in a telephone interview.
The actor first shared his story with the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday, revealing his family came to the US when he was a child from war-torn Côte d’Ivoire.
He said his last hope rests with Congress salvaging some form of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which President Trump vowed to end earlier this year.
Bamba said he’s ready to fight for DACA — and his place in the US.
“Congress is taking its time, so they’re like, ‘Oh no, let’s push it back to next year,’ but every day [about 800] people are losing their status because DACA hasn’t been extended,” said Bamba, explaining why he couldn’t hold back his story anymore.The Good Place creator Michael Schur, who also co-created Parks and Recreation, told BuzzFeed News that Bamba had his full support.
“I didn’t know he was technically undocumented until today, and finding out only makes him more impressive to me — that he accomplished so much while living under that cloud of uncertainty,” Schur told BuzzFeed News. “We always want Bambadjan around our show, and Congress should be working overtime to figure out how to keep him, and people like him, here.”
“He is funny, kind, talented, and as American as I am,” Schur said.
This is incredibly brave. If you watch the video (link and clip below) he said he’s scared. He’s worried he won’t be allowed to raise his daughter and that his wife will be left alone. Bambadjan allowed the cameras into his apartment and neighborhood. It is not a fancy neighborhood, he lives like most of us. The point he is trying to make is that most of the immigrants that will be affected are people we know – neighbors, friends, co-workers. I don’t know what it’s like where you live but I have had people “disappear” from my life because they were deported. I had no idea they weren’t documented but I’d showed up one day at work, at a shop I frequented, at a school meeting and that person was gone. Good people, people that added value to our community. I don’t even want to think about how many lives here in LA, people I’ve come to care about, will be affected if we lose DACA. I applaud Bambadjan for speaking out at his own risk to raise awareness. And I appreciate Schur and the show’s support.
You can sign a petition to stand with immigrants in Hollywood here. You can watch Bambadjan’s full video for Define American here. This is a clip from it:
Photo credit: WENN Photos, Getty Images and YouTube
So brave. I know several people that are undocumented and several that are just now in the process of being citizens or getting some sort of papers. It’s very difficult to live in constant fear.
Very brave. More power to his elbow. I’m British but I’m off to sign the petition.
I’m scared for him. Trump is heartless enough to target an actor in California and use him as a symbol. This was so brave, but I’m also concerned for him.
So, I don’t know much about the US system, but how do you even get employed if you don’t have documents? How do you go to school or college? Here you can’t really do anything without an id card.
Yes I also want to know,how did he get employed on a tv show,do undocumented people also get social security cards,how about bank accounts…dont you need good credit to do anything in the US how do illegal or undocumented immigrants live?
We don’t have ID cards here in the UK but the Tory government has very successfully created a “hostile environment” (yes, they explicitly call it that) for undocumented people. You can’t access NHS services, rent a flat, take a job or just about anything else, without proving your immigration status.
We’re a country people emigrate from rather than immigrate into, so it is not about that, but you need your id card for most things ( I imagine expats use passports). I find it hard to imagine how things work without one or some other type of documentation.
It’s actually illegal here to offer a job or rent a flat to someone without checking immigration status. It’s honestly awful. Every public institution has been co-opted into being de facto border guards, along with companies and private individuals.
We have deported women who have been reported to immigration after they reported being raped to the police.
*tries not to think about how awful the UK has become*
DACA recipients are granted some documentation. It’s not legal citizenship status or even a green card but it allows them to work in a way that is documented, as well as pay taxes.
Here’s info about it:
https://citizenpath.com/deferred-action-daca-work-permit/
DACA provides you with a 2 year work permit, which allows you to work, get a license, and the ability to pay taxes. It does not provide you full residency like a green card nor a path to citizenship. It also does not give you the ability to get any kind of government benefit. For undocumented folks who do not have DACA, they are unable to get licenses, Social Security Numbers, any kind of ID. How they are able to go to college? By paying out of state tuition. Most public universities will not care about your immigration status as long as you pay $8-10k a semester in tuition when it would cost a documented immigrant or citizen $1500-2000k a semester.
Basically DACA have given people who were brought here as children the opportunity to come out of the shadows and participate in society.
A lot of “undocumented” immigrants have documents, they just aren’t legit. In many industries, they recruit these kinds of workers and give them stolen or forged documents under the table. They exploit them for cheap labor. I know this happened in the agriculture/meat industry of my home state. One of my friends has a home in a village in Mexico, and a US grocery chain owner has a home there as well. They send Mexican workers to the US using real social security cards. They put posters up in the village, looking for workers who want to come to the US.
Brave.. but Oh Lord. He will be deported. All of this just reminds me of some Science Fiction futuristic thing. Just makes my stomach twist. What has this world come to. It’s all so scary.
The Registry Act -Congress periodically passed this act, starting in the 1920s until 1974, to give immigration relief to undocumented people in the United States. In 1986, Regan supported amnesty. I have never seen an immigration article that points out that the current 30 year gap is the longest without immigration relief in nearly 100 years. Undocumented immigrants have always been a part of American immigration. The last 30 years without relief is the anomaly.
We had INA section 245(i) in various versions through 4/30/2001. That statutory provision enabled many undocumented persons to become legal. Congress would do well to bring it back, but they likely will not.
Very brave of him to come forward, I hope it doesn’t put a target on him for deportation. This whole situation is so frustrating, I can’t imagine what it feels like to be one of the many people affected.
I LOVE the Good Place. Watch from the beginning and avoid spoilers, if you haven’t seen it. It’s quirky, but give the whole first season a chance and by then you should be hooked.
Forgive my ignorance, because I don’t live in the US, but is it really that hard to get legal after you’ve been living and working in the country so many years? It’s always surprising to me when I hear stories about people that have been undocumented for decades. Can’t imagine how you manage to do anything without proper papers.
It’s about coming into the country through customs -if you haven’t done this, there is no standard way to gain legal status. If you have come in through customs but have overstayed your visa, really the only form of immigration relief is marrying an American citizen.
People who have been here for literally decades are being deported and sent away from their American spouse and children.
But they could come back legally once they leave, right?
Yes, it is extremely difficult to get and stay legal in the US. If you fall out of legal status for any reason, severe consequences are immediate and often unfixable.
@ Mina : I am from Canada and I too am very confused about this. Are there no paths to getting legal status if you are undocumented/ illegal? It seems to me that there should be some way to obtain legal status from within the US. I also am baffled that people who are undocumented are able to get “real” jobs even without having documentation. I think that there must be employers who don’t care if the person is undocumented as this person is more likely to work in a difficult, low-paying job. I worked with refugee claimants in Canada who had been in the US (from Mexico, El Salvador) but had left after threats of deportation. They had work ID cards from the state governments of Texas and California. So these states were more than happy to employ people who didn’t have documents as long as they did the sh*t jobs that legal Americans didn’t want. It is such a mess.
I read his interview in the LATimes a few days ago.He didn’t know he was undocumented until he was applying for a job or for a scholarship.When he was a child his parents mentioned they were applying to become citizenship.They filled out paperwork but never became citizens.Fortunately because of DACA he was able to get DACA work permit There are people who have been here since they were young kids who don’t even know there are not legal citizens.
In this administration, all DACA has done is give ICE a list of people to pursue. I don’t fancy his chances of staying now.
maybe he should be mad at his parents for putting him in this spot and thankful that he was able to earn millions in the us. go home, use a million to get a free card legally.
i spent 20 years legally waiting to get a green card , separated from parents and couldn’t bring them here because they were too old. it will take me another 20 yearsyo sponsor my sibling , so yeah, enough with crocodile tears of anyone that is here illegally.
If things are difficult for you, they should be difficult for everyone? You understand the same people who would want to deport him, also want to end family reunification? You guys are on the same side whether you like it or not.
Did you miss the “war-torn” part? Why would he be mad at his parents for moving him out of an unsafe environment?
It is not that easy for him to just leave and come back legally. If he leaves the US now for any reason, he likely will not be allowed back in – even on a work visa – for at least ten years, possibly forever.
Being placed in removal (deportation) proceedings might actually enable him to apply for relief from removal that would lead to a green card, but the immigration courts are horribly backlogged and relief is never guaranteed. Congress needs to act to protect kids like him.
He’s not the star of the shows. If he’s gotten 5 minutes of screen time, I’d be surprised. So, no, he doesn’t have millions.
Millions? He’s a two-bit player on an NBC sitcom. He’s not the lead. He’s not part of the main ensemble.
@ anon. I understand your point. If people aren’t in the US legally, then I would assume they would always be looking over their shoulders for ICE or whoever. And yes, they know the situation they are putting their children in. But I figure they decide the risk is worth it. I think that the level of enforcement of the immigration laws can really vary depending on your location and political mood in the US, so staying as undocumented can seem like a good idea.
@ Tiffany 🙂 : His parents could have applied to enter any number of other countries (Canada or Europe) that take refugees. The wait in the refugee camps can be long (two years for a family I know from Bosnia) but it is a legitimate path for citizenship.
On a light note, I’m also a huge fan of the Good Place! Watch it from the beginning if you can.
On a more serious note, I used to teach to A LOT of undocumented children and people also need to understand that children are not necessarily aware of their own situation. They grow up having heard that « it’s being processed » or whatever but they don’t get regular updates. The idea is to start living life as normal as possible straight away. Also, from the article it seems that he was a political refugee, which (well, in France anyway) is a different status than, say an economic migrant.
I love The Good Place, too! I got hooked and binged while traveling recently.
This was so brave of him. I hope they protect the Dreamers, it would be so cruel not to. I like that Mike Schur said Bambadjan is as American as he is. This country is all most of these people know.
And The Good Place is fantastic. All of Mike Schur’s shows are.
I also love the good place. But I haven’t seen the new season yet. I’m waiting to just binge on it, since it’s probably a truncated season like the first one. But I heard the news about season 3 and couldn’t be happier.
As for the documents. Well some states, such as California allow for undocumented to get driver’s licenses.
Unfortunately, I think Trump will make sure this guy is made an example of and deported. It will win major points from his base and even some liberals who have a problem with undocumented immigrants.
I always get upset when people say Trump hasn’t done anything yet but talk. Maybe not to you or anyone you know. I too live in a region with DACA kids who are intelligent, follow the laws, hold jobs, but are scared of being picked up by ICE. Many never knew they were undocumented and their whole lives have changed under Trump. Darkness has settled over our country for real.
Anon, you are a bitter asshole. I am a nationalized citizen as well, and consider myself lucky that my father’s education and skills allowed my family to become a legal part of this beautiful, if troubled, country. The last thing I would want is to see a DACA recipient who has built a life here – and arrived through no fault of his own – to face the fear and life shattering insecurity he *has* voluntarily chosen to take a very brave stand. He is worth a hundred of you, I would rather claim him as a fellow immigrant than you any day of the week. Be grateful for your blessings rather than wishing ill for others, karma is a patient, vengeful bitch.