Fourth of July Pariahs

E pluribus Unum. From many, one. The motto, which originally referred to the integration of the 13 colonies that were America’s foundation, has acquired another meaning in the political discourse of a nation that has been built on the shoulders of immigrants. When President Barack Obama traveled to the Mexican border on May 10 to re-launch his campaign in favor of his immigration reform, he referred to the founding motto of the United States as the emblem of a nation that has defined itself as a land of immigrants since its founding on July 4, 1776.

What began as a nation of inclusiveness has, sadly, been gradually transformed little by little into a country that is increasingly exclusive.

With more than 11 million undocumented aliens, the United States celebrates this Fourth of July not as a nation whose founding fathers imprinted into it a pluralistic and inclusive character, but as a country unable to suppress the native forces who propose projects of ethnic cleansing and political profit from anti-immigrant hatred, a country that now has the largest undocumented population in the world.

When the Fourth of July fireworks, hymns and hosannas pay tribute to those who have fought not only for the independence of the United States, but also for those generations of immigrants who have made this melting pot of races, cultures and identities that make up the American Union under one God, one flag and one destination, the phantom guests will once again be illegal immigrants.

Those who are still denied the right of citizenship in the midst of a campaign of racial hatred and cultural rejection. Those who, for over half a century, have been denied their civil rights and have been reduced to the status of modern day slaves. Those who, with their formidable work force, have helped to build up entire cities, skyscrapers, bridges and roads, and have generated wealth for corporations within and outside of the United States.

Those who have died defending the flag and security of a nation that continues to bargain over the right to a homeland and a common destiny.

On June 23, when the Democratic caucus reintroduced track bills to legalize the status of millions of illegal aliens and to realize the bill known as the Dream Act, which would legalize just over two million children of illegal immigrants, very few veterans of the fight for immigration reform relied on the honesty of Democrats or of President Obama.

Despite Obama’s grandiloquent speeches and impassioned defense of Congress, including Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy, who are in favor of immigration reform, the truth is that the lack of support and bipartisan consensus in Congress makes it highly improbable that the bill will become law during the current legislature.

So this July 4, when the United States celebrates its 235th anniversary as an independent nation, those who still live in fear of being arrested and deported, those who have known no other nation since childhood, under the principles of equality, freedom and prosperity, will live it from the underworld of illegal exploitation that certifies them as pariahs of the modern era.

For them, the Declaration of Independence statement that “every human being is equal and is endowed with certain inalienable rights granted by our Creator” will enter one more year as a hollow, worthless statement.

It will be a tragic reminder of the unfairness that they’ve lived for too long under the idyllic discursive principle of E Pluribus Unum, which for them has the sad condition of E Pluribus Nullus; from many, none.