Take a second to ask yourself where you were five years ago. Or where your parents or grandparents were when they were your age and younger? You get the picture. The argument about immigration and immigration reform often brings up this response that we are all immigrants.
We’re all either immigrants or their descendents. Therefore, the issues surrounding what’s going on with today’s immigrants are also our issues. With the Sensenbrenner-King Bill of 2005, it has truly become our concern, because now, even if you simply know or have helped an immigrant, you’re at risk.
This bill, passed by the House of Representatives, criminalizes immigrants and aims to make any form of helping and supporting undocumented immigrants a felony. With the Secure Fence Act, President Bush authorized 700 miles of barriers to be built on the U.S.-Mexico border. Now, we are literally closing our doors, redefining and strengthening our borders, to keep out the “others” and “outsiders” who don’t belong here.
Does anyone else see the irony in this? We need to tell people what is going on, because it doesn’t seem like they know what their government is doing. Do we really support building this fence and criminalizing human beings for being or helping undocumented immigrants? Is this really what the American Way and American Dream have become?
Bernardita Yunis is a junior majoring in communication studies and international studies. She may be contacted at b.yunis@umiami.edu