We all recognize the images in recent news. Buses transport people to discard and abandon them in some “sanctuary” city or anywhere else, relegated to the whims of leaders, in Florida or Texas for example, as if they are dealing with cattle, viciously, mockingly and with contempt for the most rudimentary human rights and to satisfy partisan whims – as if they were playing some disgusting, macabre game. The news and the images leave us somewhere between perplexed and indignant and show us the serious, shameful deterioration and moral and social degradation that the political management of the immigrant situation has in this nation.
This is a nation that presents
itself to the world as a model of democracy and respect for human rights,
without considering the enormous suffering that takes place in a thousand
different ways on long journeys and that awaits all who want to achieve “the
American dream.”
In our world and times, human
immigration is culminating into an unsuspected drama and the human tragedies
(separation of families, diseases, violence, displacement, hunger, death, etc.)
this causes fall beyond the control of governments and nations. This results in
a Dantesque and catastrophic situation, with thousands of human lives in
subhuman conditions, and speaks very poorly of our human spirit while we boast
of our times of globalization and scientific and technological advances.
Material
progress is of little use if we do not advance or, worse, we regress in
humanization, solidarity, and justice. All this speaks ill of our degree of
civilization and the search for the common good—and not for individual and
corrupt interests—that must guide us. This also speaks ill of our leaders here
and in the countries from which these migrants come.
Since the most recent IMMIGRATION
REFORM, we have been hearing for decades in this nation about the urgency of
this issue. Unfortunately, today’s politicians manipulate, politicize, and
exploit the issue of Immigration Reform, not for the desire to do justice and
seek humanity, but with the electoral interest of one side or the other.
Each political
party blames the other in this petty and perverse electoral game; they change
the subject; they block it indefinitely. They leave important issues
unresolved, causing suffering and uncertainty for the millions of people
who—already within our borders and residing here for many years—seek to
legalize and normalize their status as citizens in this nation, with all the
duties and rights that this entails, so they can stop living in fear,
ostracism, in the shadows and at the mercy of so many of those who abuse human
and civil rights. These abusers find in undocumented immigrants the opportunity
to pay cheaply for labor, exploit labor and persecute those who do not submit
to their violence and injustices.
But there are interests that must
rank above partisan, demagogic and electoral interests that we must reclaim and
prioritize to resolve stalled and urgent immigration reform. These issues
include the recognition of human and civil rights, the recognition of the
valuable cultural contributions and work that immigrants have contributed in
the construction of the development and progress of this great nation, the
right to a dignified life and homeland and the need for the stability of this
nation to be based on respect for the human being and values such as equity,
justice, social peace and respect for life.
But these are all “first-aid
bandages” that do not solve the root of the problem and that—perhaps—achieve
the opposite, unwanted effect: that of prolonging the nightmare suffered by
millions of our brothers and sisters.
The solution to this serious,
complex human problem lies with legislators. Enough of postponing a strong,
definitive legal solution for undocumented migrants in our nation! Those who
have taken up the task of legislating for the common good must find their
political will and determination!
We must remember that this
resolution also involves joint work with the governments of the countries from
where these migrant majorities originate. These governments—almost
always—shoulder blame for this multitudinous exodus, through administrative
corruption that impoverishes and creates all kinds of social inequalities,
injustices and violence that force so many to leave everything they have and
have earned to seek better living conditions.
In the United States, within our
communities, our political, social and religious leaders must solve this
enormous human, social and international problem, and it occurs to me, right
now, that this includes, especially, Hispanic community leaders. IMMIGRATION
REFORM as a political and legal action requires commitment, organization, the
unification of all forces and demonstrations as an instrument of social
pressure before our lawmakers.
Our present-day migratory
phenomenon differs from that of decades ago. Humanity and its history are
dynamic and ever-changing. Therefore, the IMMIGRATION REFORM that we need right
now must consider today’s new realities and cultural and social changes.
When a human being suffers,
humanity suffers. So, no one is without blame or disconnected from the
phenomenon of migration and its sufferings. We all bear responsibility, and we
can and must do our best, invest our best efforts, to find a definitive legal
solution that will restore the right to a dignified life and hope for a better
tomorrow to millions of men and women who need and deserve it.
