Going Home?
What must it be like to
go home, to a place you have never been?
Hundreds of thousands of young people in the US face that dilemma. A conundrum wrapped in an enigma?
Everyone is welcome, even
urged to come to the US: “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” [i] During the immigration period of our nation’s
history people came by the boatload to Ellis Island in New York City and Angel
Island in San Francisco Bay. They went
through customs and immigration, given physicals when needed, and sent into the
country to become “Americans.” It was legal
and documented. .
In recent history,
millions entered the country illegally, undocumented. In a nation that prides itself on the rule of
law, that poses problems. Most recent
immigrants came for two reasons: they
were refugees from drug and corruption dominated countries in Central and South
America, or they came to work and provide for their families. Their home countries could not provide
economic stability. They brought their
very young children with them.
Immigrant children of
illegal parents grew up in the US. Like
other kids, they went to school, learned to speak English, got jobs, and
contributed as they could. Home is the
US. It’s a small town in the Mid-West
where parents work in factories, mow lawns, clean our houses, or raise our food. Home is the dorm at a state university where
they study electronic engineering. Home
is the town where they are the football star or on the basketball team. Home is where they grew up, the culture in
which they grew up, the friends that they made, the church they attend and the
ethos by which they live. They didn’t
commit a crime by being brought here as a six-month-old or three year old. They are American as much as their
native-born brothers and sister who came after them. Why do we want to send them to a place they
know nothing about, that isn’t home?
DACA children need
protection from deportation. Their
families need to stay together; not split up, interned in another country from
which they can’t return. The average
undocumented alien has lived in the US for ten years or more. They are part of the fabric of the
community. Why do we want to lose their
industrialism or their intellect, or their future contributions? “Something we were withholding made us weak
until we found out that it was ourselves we were withholding ….[ii] We only hurt ourselves when we withhold
America from those who want it and need it!
