Laws are meant to protect and give order to society; however one has to question the sustainability of a governing law that punishes innocent children. Many brought to this country as infants face deportation to a country they’ve never known. Once these children arrive, they are ostracized from their own culture, and never accepted because they are too Americanized. Families are broken up with no recourse. Juan came to the U.S at the age of twelve; his mother brought him and his younger brother to live with a relative because she could no longer take care of them. For years Juan attended public schools, cultivated good friendships, and loved America. As a teenager, he worked in a restaurant and progressed from busboy to cook. In his twenties, he married a charming American woman and together they are bringing up two beautiful daughters. Juan is working feverishly with an Immigration Attorney, “I don’t want to go back to Mexico, and my wife is very afraid. I love my daughters so much.” Juan and his family are faced with the fact that he entered the country illegally and that holds a mandatory ten year penalty before he can apply for citizenship. Juan is working with his second attorney. “The first one just took my money and didn’t do anything; he just said to lay low.” Legal sharks target many illegal aliens; after all, who can they complain to?
The history of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Laws has been continually defined by the ever-changing cultural climate of the country. Originated in 1790, it gave entry to “free white persons” of “good character.” In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment was established that all children born in the United States would be protected. “All persons born or naturalized in the United Stated and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The Supreme Court ruled as covering everyone born in the U.S. regardless of the parent’s citizenship.
Congress and the Supreme Court preventing immigration of persons of poor health, or lacking in education devised governed changes. Not all immigration laws were fair or just, but simply tools for certain gain or prejudice. In 1923, The Supreme Court classified Indians as non-white, which at the time retroactively stripped Indians of citizenship. The court ruled under the prosecutor’s case that Indian Americans had gained citizenship illegally. The law was not invalidated until 1952.
The 1960s opened immigration up to “chain immigration” where family members already established as U.S. citizens sponsored their relatives. Family related immigration took precedence. A large group of the U.S. population protested under allegations “they” would take over and the US citizens would lose jobs because of immigration. Senator Edward Kennedy spoke out, “The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not upset the ethnic mix of our society. It will not relax the standards of admission. It will not cause American workers to lose their jobs.”
In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act was passed, establishing
penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Slowly more constricting immigration laws have increased into total reform with the Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 which focused on both the border and the interior of the United States. The Senate attempted to pass amnesty legislation regarding illegal immigrants already in the United States in 2007. If passed, it would create a path to citizenship for a large population of families who have been caught in the crossfire. The Bill died leaving a sea of husbands or wives without citizenship in fear of deportation and separation from their beloved children. Deportation is rapid and judicious; however, one needs to question, is it just?
There are cases on record of children coming home from school to find both of their parents deported. These children were born in America and are now in foster care. The strict laws have cultivated a fearful transgressor that profits in the victimizing of frightened illegals trying to obtain legal citizenship. Many were brought into the U.S. as children and have spent most of their lives in this country, according to the law, they face duration of five year, ten year or life sentences preventing applying for legal citizenship as punishment for illegal entry. Desperate to stay with their families, countless illegals follow the deceptive trail first paying thousands of dollars that accompany a trail of paperwork only to be told that everything is conforming to their legalization. They are instructed to cross back into Mexico and obtain legal entry as a final step.
This final step proves to be the initiate of terror. “You would not believe what people go through,” Lynn spoke passionately, “I am an American citizen, if I choose to fall in love with someone born of another country, I should have the right to obtain Immigration for that person.” Lynn and her husband have four children, she works as a bilingual family advocate and her husband does labor. Unable to obtain legal status exposes this family to continuous peril. Lynn’s husband had returned to Juarez, Mexico only to be detained. “I was called by the Coyotes, at first they wanted $1,500 to return my husband, then the figure just kept going up from there. If you can’t pay, they threaten to shoot them,” explained Lynn. “A coyote already in the United States, rents a house. This house was in Phoenix. Then, the other Coyotes transport a small group over the border and put them in one room guarded by men with guns until the families pay.” For Lynn, this nightmare went on for six days while her husband remained hostage. “If you don’t pay, they will take your family member back across the border and shoot them. One of the guy’s families was having trouble coming up with the money, and by now it was up to $3,000. During that time, my husband did not get any food, and the Coyotes in another room raped the two girls that were being held. My husband was beaten with flashlights and still has nightmares about those girls screaming!”
At midnight the sixth day, Lynn got the call telling her where to drive to pick-up her husband. Still processing the anguish, Lynn reveals, “People don’t realize what these people go through to be here, and I believe that it is the Hispanics that were born here that are the gang bangers, not the ones who try to immigrate here. They come here to work and have a better life for their family. There are some 1.5 million American citizens who are married to illegal aliens. These families are being broken up and it is not right, it is not right!”
The Immigration Laws will change, if not in our near future, the children caught in this web will change them. When they reach adulthood, they will work to employ change and take their place within our governing system to say this is not right.
Valerie Kelly
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