Run Away, Far Away

I have often wondered what awful thing must have happened that made my relatives pack what they could carry in a bag, board a ship, and take off to a country they had only seen in their imagination.

Among my relatives there are stories of oppression, of the need to breathe free, to find a new home. America was the land of opportunity, hope and dreams. My relatives came through Ellis Island. It was possible in those days as long as you were healthy and had a name, the promise of a job, and a determination to make it work.

When people talk about illegal immigrants, I cannot imagine what story they are thinking about, how they are imagining that works, but here is how I see it, based on talking with people who made that journey.

A person is trapped in a poverty cycle with criminal participation as the only means of going forward. The government and criminals are working together. Instead of joining that madness you gather only what you can carry and go. You walk, you ride, you keep moving. Applying for papers means giving away your location. They could be looking for you because you know something, saw something, or they just do not want you to get away.

You cross country boundaries, you join others. There is safety in numbers. Eventually you hear they are only letting in small numbers at the borders. You need so much money or information you do not have. You cannot go back, you cannot go forward, you must make a choice.

The sadest thing I have heard Americans say, “these people are not our problem…” My answer is that no, these people are our resources. Americans have always come here from somewhere else, hungry and eager to build.

By criminalizing refugees, for that is what they are, what are we becoming? We have jobs, room, and opportunity. We bring in hundreds of thousands of unskilled labor, and will need even more as our industry increases.

“They should come in here legally… “ How exactly can that happen? Most of the people running North from SouthAmerica know of no legal way to gain entry into the USA. Either it is a secret, they need money to bribe their way in, or a safe legal path is not known to them.

We need immigration reform… and honest discussions.