What Part of Illegal Don’t You Understand?

The law is meant to serve the people and people are not created to serve the law. This is the belief in Mexico and other Latin American countries. However, we live in the United States. People entering our country need to understand our simple immigration system, laws and policies. Here, we serve the law.

Although you may want to come to the United States because you cannot earn enough to feed your family or because of our boundless opportunities, you must follow the rules. Rule one is that you apply for a visa. You must either have a sponsor (that will support you if necessary) and/or proof of a waiting job. Second, if you have a sponsor and/or proof of a waiting job, you will wait for 10 years for your visa. Although you may have a child in the United States, you will still wait 10 years for a visa.

People may or may not be aware of the hopelessness of waiting for a visa, but they are aware of other facts.

·       There are at least 11.9 million people living in the USA without authorization. They are often referred to as illegals.

·       Many have lived in the USA for a decade or more. Their children attend school. Some have purchased homes.

·       Millions of these people file Federal income tax returns using a special identification number provided by the federal government.

·       The federal government will not use your income tax information to locate and deport illegals.

·       Many of those filing federal income tax returns receive refunds or ‘earned income’ checks from the federal government.

·       Many purchase cars and trucks that are registered with local state governments

·       Authorities will not question citizenship when these people file police reports, register their children for school or seek hospital care.

·       When sneaking into the United States there are ‘safe places’ where bottled water is left to help you on your journey and the U.S. Border Patrol is prohibited from arresting you at these ‘safe’ stops.

·       Many people that are illegally on U.S. soil are arrested for crimes but not deported.

·       Millions of people that are illegally on U.S. soil are not targeted for deportation because they have children in the United States.

·       Thousands of people illegally in the USA participate in protests to change immigration policies and are not arrested and deported.

·       Thousands attend colleges and do not need to pay non-resident costs that American citizens must pay if they do not legally reside in the state where the college is located.

·       Schools do not require people living in the USA illegally to provide the documents needed for U.S. citizens to register their children for school.

·       Some people are arrested and deported during random sweeps conducted by the Federal Government

·       Some people are sentenced to jail for being on U.S. soil without authorization and then deported.

·       Thousands of people from Latin America are arrested and released when entering the U.S. illegally and given citations ordering them to appear in court. They are allowed to remain in the USA until their case is resolved in court. If they fail to appear, an order for their removal may be issued.

·       Many people are arrested while trying to cross the international bridges to return to Mexico. These arrests bolster the statistics that show the number of arrests by the Border Patrol and our taxes pay for the overnight stay in jail.

A common belief among immigrants is that if you enter the United States and get passed the Border Patrol, you chances of remaining in the U.S. are very good.

I wonder why there might be confusion about the law. Is there any part of our immigration rules that might not make sense? Is there anything in our policies that seem inconsistent with the law? Are we doing anything that could lead people to believe that being on U.S. soil without authorization violates a very important law? Why would any poor person wait for 10-years on a list so that they could enter the USA when we obviously allow people to remain on U.S. soil in violation of our law?

What part of illegal do you not understand?

Angry Questions

Last week a 16 month old child was abandoned at the public hospital. The child was unconscious and suffered severe brain trauma. Bruises and other injuries strongly suggested child abuse. The child was also malnourished.

No hospital in Acuna, a city of 180,000 people, has the medical equipment required to even assess the injuries to this baby, let alone provide treatment.

Paper Houses paid to have the infant transported to a hospital in Piedras Negras, 55 miles away. The child was brain dead. A few days later the child was pronounced physically dead.

Both parents were found and arrested. The mother was released. The father confessed and was charged.

Anger exists on several levels. How can a father, or anyone, beat a 16-month old baby? How can a mother remain while her baby is undernourished? Can anyone believe that this was not a case of on-going abuse?

How can a city of this size not have a fully equipped public hospital? The public hospital does not even have the equipment needed for a routine CAT Scan. There are only two ambulances in the city and they only transport patients to a hospital. Transports from hospital to hospital most often happen in a pick-up truck.

Yet, we must set aside the anger. Many things are not within our control. We must look at the immediate need of the child. Although the chances are slim, the child might survive with proper diagnosis and treatment. We paid for the transportation of the child.

It is far to easy to become angry about the situations in these border cities. The cartels, the silent media, the politicians, rumors, corruption, extortion and the lack of good jobs are all frustrating. Too often anger and frustration become excuses to justify not trying to help the poor. We must redirect our anger into positive action that helps the weakest and the poorest.

One other thought about the abused baby . . . Did the neighbors know? If the neighbors knew, what was their obligation? The people in the Mexican border cities are our neighbors. What do we know about their needs and situations? What is our obligation?

Latin American Children Run to Us

Put aside concerns about immigration and our fear about the changing nation in which we live. On the most basic level, the children from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are running in panic and fear. Imagine a child being chased by a rapist. The child runs down the street and wraps her arms around your legs saying, "Please help me. He is after me!" Would we ever push the child away? Would we force the child to return to the rapist?

Some might say this is over dramatic or an over simplification. I believe it distills the situation down to its basic components.

I worked and supervised investigators in the Juvenile Sex Crimes Unit of one of our nation's largest cities. Mandatory training and working with my counterparts in the Adult Sex Crimes Unit taught many truths about victims of sexual assaults. Studies agree that almost half of sexual assault victims do not report their rape. Think about that: almost 50% of sexual assault victims cannot bring themselves to file a report. Now, let's think about a child that may have even been raped by the police or army. Think about the child that their little sister will be raped and killed if they every make a police report. Think about this child being in an interview room with a uniformed Border Patrol Agent who asks why they fled to America.

The cartels and the gangs that serve the cartels use children. Let me be specific. We will call him Juan Pedro and cannot use his real name. Neither can he. At the age of 11 he was told that he was now a member of the Z. He knew of the zetas and knew that he could not say no. A few weeks later he was at the bridge and told to watch for a particular truck. He watched the license plates and saw the truck. He called the phone number that he had been given and reported that the truck arrived in Mexico and was not searched. He had other duties and he did what he was told. Eventually he was picked up by adult members of the cartel and told that today he would prove his loyalty. Failure to prove his loyalty would result in the death of his baby sister. He was given a pistol and ordered to kill his best friend, who was 10 years old. Juan Pedro is now hooding from the Zeta in a shelter, under an assumed name.

We will call the little girl Maria. She was raped at the age of 10 and forded into a house of prostitution. She escaped eight months later and now lives in a shelter under an assumed name.

Neither of these children are our responsibility. The hundreds or thousands of children in similar circumstances are not our responsibility. But if Juan Pedro or Maria ran across our border and into our arms would we really return them to the cartels? Really?

I don't pretend to know the solutions to the complex issues surrounding illegal and legal immigration. But I can't pretend that I don't have any moral responsibilities to many of these children and their families.  I know that I remain accountable to God for whatever and I say, whatever I do, whatever I don't say or don't do.