The Immigration Issue

Written by Dani Garcia.

            The article The UndocuBus: Riding From Arizona to the DNC, Risking Deportation All the Way kind of inspired me and made me angry all at once. I was inspired because people who were U.S. citizens and others that live in the country came together to fight against one cause: immigration. Those people who were not U.S. citizens risked their lifestyles here in the U.S. and some even risked losing their families. What makes me angry is that it even has to come to that. In a way this article reminded me of the Freedom Riders during the Civil Rights movement.

Civilians look on as a bus burns during the 1961 Freedom Riders movement.

I have friends who have come to the States illegally. Their families were searching for better jobs and a better life. They found it here. They work extremely hard to not only support their families but also to benefit whomever they may work for. Their children were born here and go to school here. They do not really know another life than that. I feel for the children who lose their parents because of deportation. America has always been the land of opportunity for everyone, not just a select few.

I understand that drugs are smuggled and criminals are brought over, but I do not think everyone should face deportation because of that. I think that it is wrong what they do in states like Arizona making a Hispanic show papers because some person asks. Can the U.S. discriminate worse than that? I think that goes against Constitutional Rights or Human Rights for that matter. We were taught better in the U.S and passing that law goes against everything Americans stand for.

A child in danger of being deported grasps the American flag.

Also, we are supposed to be a country founded on the Christian faith. The very book we hold as the foundation for that faith states in Leviticus 19:34, “You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God.” Our God commands us to love and treat someone who is an alien, a foreigner, an immigrant as someone who was native-born. He reminds us that we were once foreigners, too. The God’s people were foreigners since the beginning of time like in Egypt, Rome, Asia, England, and North America. How quickly we forget where we have come from. Lastly, the Lord finishes that verse with the biggest statement, the statement that dissolves any doubts or any acts of defiance. He states, “I am Yahweh your God.” If that is not reason enough, than I do not know what is.

 

Written by Dani Garcia