Crossposted from
Daily Kos
Although it seems to me that the Republicans have brought up the volatile topic of immigration in an attempt to distract the public from the huge stories of Iraq and Iran, we can always benefit as a nation from considering the issue. The following message came to me from Mary Moreno, a long-time community activist from San Antonio. She is not sure of the original author; may have been a student from Yale University. (Certainly not the one currently occupying the Oval Office!)
Worthy illegal aliens must cross the border only when you need them to. When your factories are low and your goods need assembling, they may cross. When your fields need hands to gather your harvest, they may cross. When your children need nannies to walk them to school, and your homes need housekeepers to keep them clean and tidy, they may cross. But worthy illegal aliens must not carry across that which you cannot use: Namely, their language, their children and their ways; only their hands and their backs must cross the line.
Worthy illegal aliens must make your economy great. They must labor hard, buy your goods, and pay taxes into your system. But they mustn’t request any services in return. They must remain sick rather than get hospital care. They must keep their children ignorant, rather than aim to educate them. And, they must leave their assaults unreported, rather than seek police protection.
Worthy illegal aliens must be silent. They must never complain when they cannot afford to feed their families on the wages you give them. They must never gripe when they cannot bear to work in the unsanitary conditions you have placed them in. They must never protest when you blame them for all the problems in society that you yourself created. And they must never insist that you call them “human,” rather than alien, or “undocumented,” rather than illegal.
Worthy illegal aliens must never weigh on your conscience. They must never tell you why they were forced to flee their country. They must never speak of the military regime, propped up by your government, that terrorized them in their home. They must never confide that it was your money, your guns, and your ammunition that killed their children and families. And they must never charge that it was imperialism and your corporate agenda, that forced their country to collapse.
Worthy illegal aliens must disappear when you tell them to. When your factories are full, they must fade. When their work is done, they must withdraw. When their numbers scare you, they must shrink. And as they are leaving, worthy illegal aliens must never stop. Not even to point out that it was your forefathers who were once the aliens on this land you now call your own.
What we do about immigration tells us much about who we are as a nation.
Mary notes, “The current political climate goes way beyond laws and policies….it’s about the human rights of all the people. There seems to be a lot of ignorance and mean-spirited policy being pushed right now. The saddest part for me is that we call ourselves Christians and children of God…..which God?”