Who Do We Think We Are?

This morning I woke up and read a motivating op-ed in the New York Times by Hirokazu Yoshikawa and Carola Suárez-Orozco on how terrible deportations are on the American-born children left behind.  I highly recommend it, not just if you’re into issues of immigration but also if you are interested in crafting a more benevolent country for you and your children.

Here’s my (first) letter to the editor:

Re: “Deporting Parents Hurts Kids” (Opinion, April 21, 2012):

Since the beginning of humanity, when meeting basic needs has proved difficult, families have migrated.

How our national government responds to this age-old affair symbolizes our sense of hospitality. With little regard for American-initiated engagements in foreign countries that spark migration, our system of authorizing entry creates the very categories of people that are unauthorized.

Then the same politicians that praise “family values” do little to protect the lawful American-born children. Only Somalia and the US have refused to ratify the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. Like the authors’ work, my research with undocumented youth in Paris and New York shows how crippling status is for kids that have grown up dreaming of giving back to their families and community.

Obama must forcefully restructure the agencies under his aegis to respond in a humane way to the millions of American families with at least one undocumented member.

Stephen Ruszczyk

And my second, I got carried away:

Re: “Deporting Parents Hurts Kids” (Opinion, April 21, 2012):

The authors write how deportation of parents needlessly places American children in danger. Why we have come to such desperation in the US as to need to tear apart families, leaving children without mothers and teenagers without fathers?

Obama’s immigration policy relies on the legitimacy of massive deportations. While this may respond to a perceived political need, being tough on the border, what it really does is pacify interest groups with nativist convictions. These groups are aligned with the Republican Party, whose support he needs to find a legislative compromise.  

But there is no compromise! And the coarse culture of meeting deportation quotas sweeps asunder the apparent good news of Obama’s new discretionary policy for deportation, supposedly based on immigrants’ security risk. The security risk seems to come from separating families, not from them living together.

We need to re-think solutions.  

Stephen Ruszczyk

A Cauldron of Dreams Bubbling

The political activism of undocumented youth has started to gain the ear of American media. This week, an Atlantic writer who did a good job portraying the way status really drags people off their heretofore path as they finish high school. The Connecticut kids find themselves especially blocked. New York City kids actually have the advantage of a formidable, if chronically frustrating, public transportation system. I, for one, am a documented person that does not have a car. The car is often a key resource when looking for a job, or looking for a romantic partner. I still remember a woman I worked with at Marshall's in Buffalo who had to take three buses to get to work, and I remember her crying when she was fired for being late to work, when it took her an hour and a half to get there. But a driver's license is still the norm to buy alcohol or cigarettes in New York City.

The Huffington Post also has a blog series by 12 young writer-activists that tells personal stories and shows the resolve of young people in gaining their shot at the American Dream. The organization of activists seems strongest in California, where 10 of the 12 writers live (the other two seem to live in Florida according to the site). Illinois also has a strong organizational base. If these regional strengths were extended, and the moral standing of kids growing up without papers was deepened in local communities, we might finally start to see political shift. If they could talk more openly about their status, if schools addressed their needs straight-forwardly, and if church and other religious groups spoke out on the universal aspects of being a person, people who living, instead of fighting out battles on sexual practices, if, if, if...

Some Dream Act Protesters

What can you do? You can search out a local organization that helps undocumented immigrants or organizes protests. You can subscribe to groups on Facebook that keep you updated on stories: New York Immigration Coalition, Make the Road, New York State Youth Leadership Council, National Immigrant Youth Alliance, MALDEF, Define American and more. When you read the stories of how the US is treating kids, there is no other choice but to start to act. You can write a message about it on your Facebook, you can write your Senator, your Representatives, you can participate in marches, you can start an online petition, you can talk to your friends about it, you can write a letter to the Editor. Those things won't solve all the problems but will at least start to organize New York so it acts as a leader on undocumented issues like Los Angeles and Chicago do today. And when the kids who face the biggest risk can protest, so can we.