NYC deli sells sandwich called “The Illegal”

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

First came Green Card energy drink. Now comes a sandwich called “The Illegal.”

Apparently, there’s a deli across the street from New York City’s Citizenship and Immigration Services headquarters that has begun selling a sandwich by that name:

The “Illegal” — Sausalito turkey, Monterey Jack cheese, lettuce, tomato and a jalapeño-fi red guacamole spread — is not on the menu above but is advertised from its sign in the display case, which also shows a man going through a barbed wire fence.

They’ve been making it for about six months, according to Roberto Agapito, the soup-ladling, cutlet-cutting, potato-chip-scooping Mexican mastermind behind the creation.

If you order an Illegal in Spanish at the Civic, the inevitable ensues.

Customer: “I’ll have an Illegal, please.”

Worker (pointing to guy next to him): “Here’s one.”

Laughter all around.

Agapito, who has been in the United States for 12 years, said he created it to honor the experiences of many of his fellow Latino immigrants.

I’m sure they feel very honored.