The New York Times recently asked, “Why Do American Grocery Stores Have An Ethnic Aisle?”
At first glance, the question seems simplistic. One might even ask, “What’s the big deal? They’re just grocery aisles.”
But, in actuality, the question reflects issues larger than food aisles. The question reflects a changing country.
Imagine living in the United States for 48 years thinking you’re a U.S. citizen . . . and then the carpet is pulled from you.
Imagine serving in the U.S. Navy for seven years believing you’re a U.S. citizen . . . only to find out two decades later, after receiving an honorable discharge, you were not born in the United States.
Imagine being a Customs and Border Patrol officer for 18 years, preventing undocumented immigrants from entering the United States . . . who suddenly learns that he is like them, an immigrant without legal documents.
Is history repeating itself?
As a college student who protested for the end of the Vietnam War, I recall the social chaos and political confusion that emerged when Vietnam refugees began to enter the U.S., many in the Southern California area.
I remember the hostility of many Americans, while kids and adults from abroad tried to make sense of their new surroundings and a culture most had never been exposed to.
In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, I believed we had a moral obligation to help those Southeast Asians from Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, whose lives we had irrevocably disrupted.
Watching the consequences of another military engagement in a 20-year war that failed our allies, endangering their safety and stability, I feel we have a similar duty to refugees from Afghanistan.
Necessity, it’s often said, is the mother of invention.
Stated more broadly, if something really needs to get done, human beings will find a way of doing it.
That was the situation facing both Black slaves and Chinese immigrants in the late 1800s.
Both groups were subject to extreme racism.
With their very survival under constant threat, their alliance was born.
What are the prevailing conditions in Central America that drive people out?
It’s a fundamental question that has to be asked – and answered – before the details of comprehensive immigration reform and sound asylum policy can be agreed upon and implemented.
As Miriam Valverde, writing for the Poynter Institute’s PolitiFact publication, questions, “Why would moms, dads, teens and kids take the risks they do, leaving behind their families and traditions, embarking on a journey that typically requires walking nights and days through the desert without water, swimming against strong river currents without a life vest, or hiding in the back of a tightly packed tractor-trailer for hours without enough air to breathe.”
Immigration Is A Defining Asset Of The United States. Here’s How To Restore Confidence In Our System.
In a recent Washington Post editorial, former Republican President George W. Bush called for bipartisan immigration reform. His stance is a strong contrast to the position embraced by Donald Trump and many current Republic Party officials.
Rather than engage in the propaganda war to demonize immigrants, Bush emphasized the need to restore “the people’s confidence in an immigration system that serves both our values and our interests.”
The op-ed comes at a time when the U.S. is seeing a new surge of migrants coming to its southern border, which has increased the political divide between those who support and those who oppose reform has widened.
I am not a fan of truncated legal information.
Short sound bites that deliver little, if any, concrete advice for immigrants and their families.
You’ve probably read such posts or heard such advertisements.
In recent years, these types of posts have become commonplace on social media.
As an immigrant advocate, it’s difficult to not become calloused by the news about immigration.
Open the newspaper, surf the internet, hang out on social media, and you’ll find loads of negative stories about the plight of immigrants.
Children separated from their parents. Families forced to leave their home countries. Individuals relegated to migrant camps and makeshift homes, wondering where their next meal will come from.
But there are, now and then, articles that share the work of individuals who exemplify the meaning of a Good Samaritan.
The U.S. citizenship test for aspiring immigrants was recently changed.
It was the second change in four months.
On the surface, this is not earth-shattering news. Hence, one might assume the test was changed due to errors, either in the way questions were phrased or the inclusion of flawed answers.
However, a closer look reveals how politics can manipulate and interfere with rational policies designed to create orderly processes for immigrants to earn lawful status.
Many pro-immigrant advocates are enthusiastic about the chances for reform under Joe Biden. But there is an elephant in the house which must be addressed.
Smugglers.
Barely 60 days into reform discussions, the actions of smugglers are once more opening doors for the hijacking of political policy.
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