Justice for Migrants

According to research by the Pew Research Center, the 11.3 million undocumented immigrants in the United States have been living there for an average of 13 years. Of them, 4 million have one or more children who are American citizens. Only 15 percent of them have been living there for fewer than five years.

Considering these facts, why deny the truth? Who stands to gain most by stopping this immense workforce from naturalizing? They all contribute their work to the growth of the neighboring country’s economy, and they all pay taxes for the things they buy and consume. Why ignore them?

Refusing to move forward on immigration reform can only be the action of someone who needs that workforce to remain cheap, and what better way to achieve such a thing than with the threat of deportation. There are also those who oppose immigration reform for ideological reasons: those who keep a racist political posture linked to supremacist delusions and the purity of blood, ideas that are irreconcilable with any kind of humanitarianism or respect for human rights. This is the case of Texas governor, Rick Perry, who has propped up the National Guard standing at the border with Mexico to – in his own words – stop “terrorists and disease” from passing through.*

The recent crisis of unaccompanied migrant children – which, far from having been seen as a humanitarian displacement issue, was instead seen as a territorial threat for the southern state governments of the United States, with the exception of California – proved to what extent the radical fundamentalist right blew things out of proportion in order to refuse to acknowledge a self-evident and overwhelming truth.

The civic battle of American children born to undocumented migrants – the famous “DREAMers” – also proves a lack of empathy.

Immigration reform is urgent; it’s necessary to normalize the legal permanence of those millions of Mexicans who faced the dangers of escaping their own country, since that country lacks what’s necessary to lead a decent life. This issue is neither trivial, nor minor. There are more than half a million lives that don’t deserve poverty here or mistreatment there.

President Barack Obama promised such reform; however, internal political conditions have stopped it from becoming a reality. It’s time for justice to be done.

* Editor’s note: The original quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.