By ANTONIO ALARCÓN
Published: February 1, 2012
ONE of my happiest childhood memories is of my parents at my First
Communion. But that's because most of my memories from that time are
of their being absent. They weren't there for my elementary school
graduation, or for parent-teacher conferences.
From the time I was just a baby in Mexico, I lived with my
grandparents while my parents traveled to other Mexican states to find
work. I was 6 in 2000 when they left for the United States. And it
took five years before they had steady jobs and were able to send for
me. We've been together in this country ever since, working to build a
life. Now I am 17 and a senior in high school in New York City. But my
parents have left again, this time to return to Mexico.
Last week, when asked in a debate what America should do about the 11
million undocumented immigrants living here, Mitt Romney said he
favored "self-deportation." He presented the strategy as a kinder
alternative to just arresting people. Instead, he said, immigrants
will "decide they can do better by going home because they can't find
work here."
But really this goes along with a larger movement in states like
Arizona and Alabama to pass very tough laws against immigrants in an
attempt to make their lives so unbearable that they have no choice but
to leave. People have called for denying work, education and even
medical treatment to immigrants without documentation; many immigrants
have grown afraid of even going to the store or to church.
The United States is supposed to be a great country that welcomes all
kinds of people. Does Mr. Romney really think that this should be
America's solution for immigration reform?
You could say that my parents have self-deported, and that it was
partly a result of their working conditions. It's not that they
couldn't find work, but that they couldn't find decent work. My dad
collected scrap metal from all over the city, gathering copper and
steel from construction sites, garbage dumps and old houses. He earned
$90 a day, but there was only enough work for him to do it once or
twice a week. My mom worked at a laundromat six days a week, from 6
a.m. until 6 p.m., for $70 a day.
But the main reason they had to leave was personal. I have a brother,
16, a year younger than me, still living in Mexico. He was too little
to cross the border with me when I came to the United States, and as
the government has cracked down on immigration in the years since, the
crossing has become more expensive and much more dangerous. And there
was no hope of his getting a green card, as none of us have one
either. So he stayed with my grandparents, but last year my
grandmother died and two weeks ago my grandfather also died. My
parents were confronted with a dilemma: Leave one child alone in New
York City, or leave the other alone in Mexico. They decided they had
to go back to Mexico.
Now once again I am missing my parents. I know it was very difficult
for them to leave me here, worrying about how I will survive because
I'm studying instead of earning money working. I'm living with my
uncles, but it is hard for my mother to know that I'm coming home to a
table with no dinner on it, where there had been dinner before. And
it's hard for me not having my parents to talk to, not being able to
ask for advice that as a teenager you need. Now that they are in
Mexico, I wonder who will be at my graduation, my volleyball games or
my birthday? With whom will I share my joy or my sad moments?
I know a girl named Guadalupe, whose parents have also decided to
return to Mexico, because they can't find work here and rent in New
York City is very expensive. She is very smart and wants to be the
first in her family to attend college, and she wants to study
psychology. But even though she has lived here for years and finished
high school with a 90 percent average, she, like me, does not have
immigration papers, and so does not qualify for financial aid and
can't get a scholarship.
People like Guadalupe and me are staying in this country because we
have faith that America will live up to its promise as a fair and just
country. We hope that there will be comprehensive immigration reform,
with a path to citizenship for people who have spent years living and
working here. When reform happens, our families may be able to come
back, and if not, at least we will be able to visit them without the
risk of never being able to return to our lives here. We hope that the
Dream Act — which would let undocumented immigrants who came here as
children go to college and become citizens and which has stalled in
Congress — will pass so that we can get an education and show that
even though we are immigrants we can succeed in this country.
If, instead, the political climate gets more and more anti-immigrant,
eventually some immigrants will give up hope for America and return to
their home countries, like my parents did. But I don't think this is
something that our presidential candidates should encourage or be
proud of.
Immigrants have made this country great. We are not looking for a free
ride, but instead we are willing to work as hard as we can to show
that we deserve to be here and to be treated like first-class
citizens. Deportation, and "self-deportation," will result only in
dividing families and driving them into the shadows. In America,
teenagers shouldn't have to go through what I'm going through.
Antonio Alarcón is a high school student and a member of Make the Road
New York, an immigrant advocacy group. This essay was translated by
Natalia Aristizabal-Betancur from the Spanish.
More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/opinion/do-it-yourself-deportation.html?_r=1&nl=opinion&emc=tya1
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
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