I wonder if people who insist upon using the i-word ever think about the impact it has on human lives. "What part of 'illegal' don't you understand?!" they say. Well, as an undocumented immigrant, I need people to understand the traumatic effect this racist language has on us and our families. Many people who don't experience this reality don't seem to realize the inescapable feelings of inferiority it creates. Or that we can get to a transparent, thorough dialogue on human rights and humane immigration solutions only when we remove the i-word as a central piece of the conversation.
I am not a law-breaker, but throughout my life, it has felt like the law is trying to break me. My grandfather, a U.S. citizen for more than 30 years, immigrated in 1948. He petitioned for my father to become a U.S. permanent resident in 1989, but only three months into the process, he passed away unexpectedly. The adjustment of my father's "legal status" became complicated. He decided to bring my mother, my sister and me from Caracas, Venezuela, to New York, so that we could establish ourselves here. My parents wanted my sister and I to get an education and he thought being here he could adjust our "legal status." That never happened.
Shortly after 9/11, during my freshman year of high school, uncertainty loomed. Instead of high school being a time look forward to the future for hundreds of thousands of dreamers just like me, it was marked by sorrow and hopelessness. Lacking papers meant that I would have to pay out-state-tuition for college, even though I had lived in Florida for most of my life, because I would be considered a "non-resident" student.
In my senior year, I was deeply depressed. I understood that my status was going to prevent me from attending college or any university, joining the military, getting a good job and even obtaining a driver's license. I felt a lot of resentment toward my father for not adjusting our status. At that time, I didn't realize that the system makes it nearly impossible for people like me to become "legalized."
When we migrate to this country, we come to improve our lives, no different than the immigrants of the past centuries, many of whom were also subjected to racism and discrimination, yet whose descendants are revered today for improving our society. What does it say about the current state of our society, when the Supreme Court rules that corporations are considered legal persons and yet human beings are deemed "illegal"? That kind of contradiction reinforces the criminalization of people like me.
It's been over 21 years and to this day I remain paperless, with no possibilities of becoming a permanent resident without the passage of the DREAM Act. But I no longer feel beaten. I am committed to telling the truth about our broken system and to challenge inhumane ideals, including the use of the i-word.
Historical accounts will affirm that themes tend to repeat, though manifesting differently. Earlier this year, I walked with three other undocumented students 1,500 miles from Miami, Fla., to Washington, D.C., to share our plight and demand that President Obama halt student deportations and end family separation. In Georgia, we encountered dangerous anti-immigrant territory. We were witness to age-old hatred and understood first-hand how hate is tied to the passing down of hateful language.
Alongside the NAACP of Georgia, we went to counter-protest a Ku Klux Klan rally. The KKK rally messages were: stop sex predators, keep prayer in schools, and above all, stop the "illegal immigrant" invasion. There is not much difference between the racist and discriminatory rhetoric the Ku Klux Klan spews and that of anti-immigrant political demagogues and commentators.
But it's surprising to the see the language seep into journalism and "progressive" circles. There is no getting around the fact that the i-word and its derivatives are meant to demean and criminalize individuals and communities. So long as we're subject to dehumanization through the use of language, we'll continue to hear "what part of "illegal" don't you understand?!" or "illegal means illegal." It's offensive that the Washington Post's Ezra Klein and others associate our efforts to eradicate hateful, racist language word "word games" and trying to "paper over" anti-immigrant anger. Don't the terms "illegals" and "illegal immigrants" paper over the reality of a global economy and abuse of our human rights?
With these boundaries, the immigration dialogue will remain poisoned, and harsh enforcement and racial profiling practices will persist. I'll end with the saying that scholars throughout history have reiterated: one can judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable.
I support the Dream Act for the good of the country (although I think it should be military service or a 4 year college degree, not a 2 year degree). We need to reform our immigration system to reflect the needs of the US, not the needs of multinational corporations who own Congress and want to drive down American wages by hiding their true agenda behind sympathetic people like Mr. Roa.
Mr. Roa is here illegally. His humanity is not in question, his legal right to remain in the United States is.
Nevertheless, the fact that it is so long and so arduous is most certainly a problem that needs to be fixed. No person should have to wait that long just to hold a document that says (s)he is legally allowed to be in a territory.
In addition, however great amnesty would be, it's not the solution. Look at IRCA of 1986. We're having the same problems again, 25 year later. I really do believe that the DREAM Act is a great bill, but this country has a lot more fixing to do before we can pass such a major piece of legislation.
Although I am against the term "illegal", I have to disagree with Carlos-- it is not racist. I do understand how it could be racist; most people automatically associate undocumented immigrants as all being Latino. However, we all know that that is not the case. Being a racist is judging someone based on the color of their skin; not their "status" in society. If someone judged me because I am Latina, that's racism; if someone judged me because I am a US citizen, that's just plain ignorance.
Illegals come into America they do not report to anyone. When they get into trouble they can just move and change their names. I feel sorry for the children but this is part of the illegal culture, they know they are breaking the law by coming here but they keep coming and bring their families. Until the US gets tough on this it will keep happening, and they will get tough, maybe not next year or 10 years but one day and it won't be pretty when it happens.
“Lacking papers meant that I would have to pay out-state-tuition for college, …†is simply incorrect. California gives in-state tuition to illegal aliens, while denying it to the actual CITIZENS of the 49 other states. If there is outrage about anything on this issue, it should be by Californians whose state is virtually bankrupt and facing mounting debt, despite obscenely high taxes, while subsidizing illegal aliens’ tuition.
“Don't the terms "illegals" and "illegal immigrants" paper over the reality of a global economy and abuse of our human rights?†No, they don’t. Using the term, “undocumented immigrants†papers over the ONLY issue – illegality, as though merely for the want of document completion, compassionate humanity would rule.
“There is no getting around the fact that the i-word and its derivatives are meant to … criminalize individuals and communities.†No, they aren’t. “Illegal alien†is merely an accurate description of the reality that illegal aliens criminalize themselves when they illegally immigrate to this country.
“… one can judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable.†If this is the standard, how illegal aliens are treated would be entirely irrelevant, because they are not part of our society. Instead, they should ask the question of their home countries where they actually are citizens or they might ask how well we treat them as we deport them to their own countries. I hope that we treat them well.
It says you're in a country that wants its slaves back.
http://crfranke.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/ishot-4.jpg
Additionally, I do think there is xenophobia and racism associated with a lot of these anti-immigrant groups. I remember watching nightline during the prop 187 aer in the 1990s. Ted Koppel asked one of the members of a pro-prop187 group what his beef was agianst immigrants. The man said it was because they brought goats into the neighborhood.
If you want a fair immigration system it needs to be blind to the color of your skin or location relative to the United States. But that is not enough for Mr Roa, he wants his color people (by benefit of proximity to the US) to get beneficial treatment. Me? I think that is unfair to the millions of people waiting in line LEGALLY to come here.
I am tired of r@cists trying to get bills passed using this specious argument.
Kai
Fanned & faved.