As an immigrant I know what it’s like to leave all you know for the unknown. We had visas, we weren’t penniless, we flew to the US and regardless I felt fear. When you emigrate everything familiar is gone and you don’t know how it will be replaced, nor do you know what will happen next. I heard and read about the caravan from Central America and I can’t help thinking about those courageous people who are willing to walk a couple of thousand miles or more in search of some safety, in search for some opportunities out of assured poverty and violence, in search of better lives for their families. They banded together to avoid the criminals who prey on migrants, Continue reading “Hail The Caravan”
Tag: immigration
Harming Children at the Border
There is something ugly, perverse and cruel about separating children from their parents at the border when they try to either cross illegally or seek asylum. Just because there is a law against it does not make them criminals. There is a difference between crossing a border to seek help, escape violence or seek a better life and willfully harming another. Besides some laws as Martin Luther King, Jr. well knew, are unjust. And he as St Augustine before him believed that we have the right to Continue reading “Harming Children at the Border”
Immigrants and Crime
At a time when it is so easy to call unwanted facts fake news, it is doubly important to know what is fact and what is not. The administration’s immigration policies–whether building a wall, their stand on sanctuary cities, who can and cannot get a visa, deportations—are all based on the notion—or is it belief—that immigrants bring crimes and that criminals are coming in. Continue reading “Immigrants and Crime”
Smuggling and Stopping The Buck
I write this just after reading a recent Rolling Stones’ article on human smuggling in the US, more specifically the activities of a few young men—and some young women— attending Texas A&M in Corpus Christi, Texas. Since Corpus as the locals call it is a city I know fairly well, and the people involved could have been people I knew, or like some of the people I know there, the story rang an even louder bell. These young people were party animals, into drugs and were brought into a smuggling operation through a friend they met a one such party. Corpus, is not far from the border, and residents are Continue reading “Smuggling and Stopping The Buck”