Such a sad sad story....this never would have happened had they simply
stayed in Mexico or entered the US legally as a complete family. Send
this little guy home to his parents as well.
On Feb 2, 3:26 pm, Tommy News <tommysn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Do-It-Yourself Deportation
> 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....
>
> --
> 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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