Ponlen Kang, 38, an immigrant from Cambodia, doesn't travel abroad, because he worries he won't be let back into the U.S. if he does, because he's not a citizen. Even if his fears are exaggerated, the diesel mechanic for Ryder imagines losing his Social Security. His anxiety about his alien card expiring next year is palpable. He really dreads renewing his drivers license. Mostly, Pon regrets not going through the citizenship process as a minor, as it would have been dramatically easier and more inexpensive twenty-five years ago. I'm trying to fathom the sort of psychic no-man's-land someone like him occupies for decades, especially since he has lived most of his life in the U.S. Are these the shadows to which Obama referred? I told him not to be so hard on himself, that an adult really ought to have helped with such an important decision and been looking out for him.
