On March 21, 2010 immigrant rights advocates by the tens of thousands will be in Washington, DC to make their case known to the nation. For me, the need for comprehensive immigration reform is obvious. I was born in Mexico of U.S. citizen parents. My parent's citizenship automatically made me a U.S. citizen even though I was born in a foreign country. By birth, I have been afforded the privileges of U.S. society, for which I am grateful. Through my work as a filmmaker, I have come to personally know those that seek refuge and opportunity in the United States and are not as fortunate as I. I have met people that live in constant fear of deportation, of being ripped from stable jobs, family and loved ones. I have seen and documented the migrant corpses that litter the southwestern deserts of the United States -- people who are so poor and desperate they will risk their lives for a job. I was born to the "right" parents so I can live better and freer than 99% of the entire world's population. My U.S. citizenship was a gift. There are millions living and working in this country that were not so fortunate and millions more coming that will be forced to live underground, afraid, taken advantage of and without a voice. That is the system we have today and it is at best, reprehensible.
Several weeks ago I met a man named Fernando who had been deported after being pulled over for a burned out tail light on his truck. Fernando spoke English, but not perfectly. He did not have a driver's license and of course, he was Latino. In addition to dealing with Fernando's infraction, the police officer that pulled him over also asked Fernando for proof of legal residency. Fernando truthfully admitted to the officer he did not have any legal papers. He was detained and deported to Mexico several days later. What the officer did not ask was how long Fernando had been in the United States. If so, he would have answered, 25 years. Fernando was not asked if he had U.S. citizen children -- he has three -- ages 8 to 16. His wife is a legal U.S. resident. His parents are U.S. citizens. Fernando was deported in spite of all this information because it is irrelevant given our current immigration system. If that is not enough insult, Fernando will have to stay in Mexico for approximately 10 years while his application to legally reenter the U.S. is under consideration. The fact that he has worked on a U.S. farm providing manual labor for 25 years means nothing to immigration courts. The fact that he has no criminal record, never been late on his rent or utility bills, goes to church and coaches his son's soccer team is meaningless.
Some may say that Fernando should never have crossed the U.S. Mexico border without documents. Fernando was covertly invited to the U.S. to work amongst the millions of undocumented laborers in our agricultural industry. Each year we (businesses) import unauthorized labor to the United States by the hundreds of thousands. Yes, I say we, they are here, they are working and we are benefiting. We are a magnet for undocumented labor and we look the other way.
People say, "He should get in line." "My Grandparents got in line." Our current immigration system provides no line for Fernando. If our ancestral immigrants were subject to today's immigration laws they would have never gained legal access. There is no fine Fernando can pay to make restitution, there is no judge he can plea his case before, the cries of his family carry no legal weight and there is nothing he can do but apply for legal reentry and wait ten years to be with his family, maybe longer.
Fernando found himself in a shelter of deportees in Tijuana, MX. He was desperate. He had a wild, distant stare in his eyes. He appeared catatonic. The only thing he talked about was seeing his wife and children. He was thinking about crossing the border through the desert. He won't wait ten years for his immigration application to be considered. I told him the desert is dangerous, I even told him I made a film about migrants dying in the desert. I offered to show it to him in the hope he would not make that journey. He left yesterday, and crossed the border into the Arizona desert. I have no way to contact him. I have no way to know if he will ever find his way to his family. I have no way to know if he is still alive.
Inhumanity is the cornerstone of our current immigration system. The work is here and the poor are there. Desperate people will find a way to reach opportunity and reach the people they love. If I were in the same situation, I would do the same thing. The need for comprehensive immigration reform is urgent. People are dying, workers are being abused and Fernando should be with his wife and children.
On the eve of what may be the beginning of the immigration reform debate, are we a big enough country to consider the poor and desperate amongst us? Can compassion and forgiveness guide our judgment or will we hate, fear monger and slog it out healthcare style? I wonder how many of us are U.S. citizens by sheer luck and if so, can we extend the bounty that was freely given to us?
Follow John Carlos Frey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/johncarlosfrey
Rev. Peter Goodwin Heltzel, Ph.D.: How Dare You Turn Away the Stranger!
Immigrants today are the strangers in our midst. If God has called us to care for the stranger, how dare we turn them away! Religious and community activists are organizing a robust movement for immigration reform that is growing rapidly.
I met you this week and was very impressed by your words and the work you do. I'm glad I found out about your work. I've brought it home for my family and co-workers to see.
Thanks for this article and for speaking about Fernando's sad truth with passion. I'm hopeful change will be forthcoming. I hope Fernando is safe.
I will keep moving forward if you do too! Let me know what your family has to say.
wow though, it never ceases to amaze me (but I guess it should start to) that even on a 'progressive' site like HuffPo there are so many commenters/users who are so incredibly mean-spirited, racist, xenophobic, close-minded, and ignorant. I guess it's because even HuffPo has an entertainment section so on the way to looking at the latest celebrity wardrobe-malfunction pics and whatnot these people see some headline with some hot-button issue phrase that inflames them and they decide to spew their ill-considered hate. Too bad we can't just deport them instead of the immigrants, and most of our problems would be solved. heh...
Interesting idea but what would life be like if we didn't have the ignorant and absurd.
I'm a conservative and am pro-enforcement, but when we HAVEN'T enforced the law then we've brought the consequences on ourself, collectively, as a country.
I DO want illegal immigration STOPPED. Dealing humanely with those who've built up a life here AND dealing decisively with illegal immigration BOTH have to be part of reform. Otherwise it's not reform, just a sell-out.
It is primarily Democrats who've demagogued this in recent years, accusing Republicans of racism and "anti-immigration" every time a Republican dares utter a squeak about our porous border. What fitting, poetic justice that the buck now stops at a Democrat. The Loony Left whom the Dems demagogued will consider him a traitor if he does anything less than ANNUL the BORDER.
Obama has got what he earned, the power to enforce the law. Well... DO it, Mr. President, and welcome to the crucifying you're going to get from YOUR side of the aisle.
Yes, show compassion, make a "process", but if you erase the border, Mr. President, you're a traitor and a perjuror to your oath of office.
Can't have it both ways? Sorry, you gotta.
People make passionate pleas that families are torn apart. I am saying there are alternatives, nobody mentions that the families are alwaysfree to follow the law breakers.
It sounds to me if Fernando didn't want to become legal. He was happy to skate by, enjoying the benefits of our country without putting much effort into changing his status. Now that he was caught and deported, the American public are supposed to feel sorry for him. We are supposed to embrace CIR , so he and all the rest like him can get a pass. I am just not buying it.
Of course Mr Frey, you being an ethnocentrist love using these stories of poor Hispanic illegal aliens to tug at the heart strings of the naive. Would you be so concerned for illegal aliens if instead of most of them being Hispanic, they were some other nationality/ ethnicity? If 60-70 percent were Canadians, would you still be advocating for them?
It is amazing that when white Americans want to protect what their forefathers built and bled for, they are considered bigots, racists, nativists and xenophobes. Yet when ethnic special interests advocate for their group it is acceptable. Hypocrisy at best
The initial immigration system was set up as a racist system. It was designed to keep Orientals out of the West that was just settled by...wait for it...white folk! As the system has evolved, it has never lost its racist nature. While there are HUGE allowances for European immigrants, there are only a trickle allowed from some privileged Latin American countries and a mere drip for the rest of Latin America, Africa and those of Arabic descent. If that's not racist, tel me what is.
I was an agricultural worker attorney before my disabilities forced my retirement. I worked with the 'legal' temporary workers brought in for the summer and the undocumented workers. The ignorant person who spoke about getting in line has no concept of what she is talking about. If all the undocumented Hispanic workers disappeared today, within a week, there would be food shortages and within a month, food riots in the US. Why? Because no one in the US will do the backbreaking jobs that are required to put food on the table of the US population.
Immigration reform is required, if for no other reason, than you could butter bread you put in your mouth this morning without even thinking about it.
You're dead wrong. The 1965 immigration act changed the policy of Northern European preference.
Here are some stats
http://www.migrationpolicy.org/Factsheet_102904.pdf
'Over half of all new legal immigrants arrived from just 10 countries.
The 10 countries of origin were Mexico (116,000), India (50,000), the Philippines (45,000),
China (41,000), El Salvador (28,000), the Dominican Republic (26,000), Vietnam (22,000),
Colombia (15,000), Guatemala (14,000), and Russia (14,000). The last three countries were
newcomers to the top 10 list in 2003, while Cuba, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Ukraine fell out of
the top 10.'
Third world countries now get preferential treatment to Europeans. Get your facts straight before blurting out nonsense.
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/70xx/doc7051/02-28-Immigration.pdf
How about being 13 years old and working on a third story laying a concrete block wall for the construction project with no safety equipment on. The falling on your head and being told that you should just shake it off and take the rest of the day off. The surprise is that he lived until just before midnight when he was taken to the ER where they tried desperately to save him but failed.
No sir, you have no idea whereof you speak.
I have illegal alien ancestors. They were Scot-Irish and avoided the entry at Ellis Island in the early 1800's by first entering Canada.
Few realize that immigration laws in the USA are not an age old thing. They are relatively new and were initiated to keep Chinese from immigrating. Of course we USED Chinese workers to finish our wonderful trans-continental railroad but then we wanted no more of them. That was around 1860.
The Irish were welcomed into the States in the 1860's - and many of them were immediately given blue uniforms, a rifle and assigned to a company swiftly sent into combat against the rebellious South.
Hispanics are welcome so long as a) they don't place too much of a burden on our society; b) they leave their wives and children back in the "Old Country" and c) they work their little Hispanic asses off to replace the laziness that has over taken American youth.
I work in construction. I'd love to have a good, hard working English speaking trainee. BUT...I see that within the next several years my helper will speak Spanish with only a smathering of English.
If you were in his shoes would you not do any thing in your power to be with your kids and wife? Think about it, "long and hard" and answer truthfully, if you still have that left in you, sweetie.
My guess is, and I could be wrong, is that you have never had to deal with the byzantine system we have at the moment. The wait times are ridiculous and make no sense. Too many documents are lost by the US govt and all the applicant can do is START OVER. Surely as Americans, we can come together and fix this crazy inhuman system that almost forces human beings to break the law.
Plus, I'd like to point out that there are lots of LGBT immigrants who are in bi-national relationships. Guess what....they have NO LINE TO GET IN because the current system doesnt even recognize same sex couples for immigration purposes. Watching my friends go through this is heartbreaking. They have to choose between the man or woman they love and the country they love. Try putting yourself in that position!
Finally, stop using the word 'amnesty' because what is being proposed is NOT amnesty. Undocumented immigrants will have to pass a backround check(criminals will be deported), learn english, commit to community service, pay fines and back taxes and get to the back of the line.
Lets stop screaming at each other and fix this problem. If you think either party will commit to deporting 12 million people youre dreaming.
Peace.