NBC’s Superstore wants us to feel sorry for an illegal immigrant because he couldn’t collect financial compensation after being injured on the job. “It’s so unfair,” proclaims the illegal’s co-worker.
Superstore takes place at supersized megastore Cloud 9, where illegal immigrant Mateo Liwanag (Nico Santos) has been working as a sales associate. Mateo didn’t realize his parents brought him into the country illegally until after he became an employee at Cloud 9.
In season 2, Mateo was to be transferred to another store due to having a relationship with district manager Jeff. But because he couldn’t produce a Social Security card that management required for the transfer (which Mateo said was “like Nazi Germany”) he ended the relationship instead, thus canceling the store transfer. Which leaves us to wonder how Mateo got the job at Cloud 9 in the first place if he doesn’t have a Social Security card.
On Thursday’s episode, “Safety Training,” Mateo is injured when a sign at the store falls onto him from the ceiling. His former love interest, Jeff (Michael Bunin), oversees negotiations when the store offers Mateo money in exchange for signing a liability waiver. Mateo’s co-worker Jonah (Ben Feldman) sits in on the negotiations because he went to business school for a year and thus feels qualified to offer Mateo advice.
Mateo is all ready to settle for $1,000 when he reads the fine print saying the money will only be issued upon completion of a background check, which he knows he can't pass so he drops the deal.
Mateo: I can't believe I have to walk away from $1,000 just because I'm undocumented.
Jonah: It's so unfair. This country was built on the backs of immigrants--
Mateo: Okay, calm down. I can tell my own story.
Jonah: And you should be able to.
You mean the country was built on legal immigrants, Jonah. And, Mateo, you’re not just “undocumented.” You’re breaking the law. Meaning you are an illegal immigrant, not just someone who lost their paperwork or something.
The only “unfair” thing about this situation is Mateo’s entitled attitude and disrespect for this country and its laws, as well as disrespecting every legal immigrant who did the hard work to go through the proper channels to become legal citizens.
