Yesterday, I spent much of my day helping a young man file papers to enroll his 13 year-old nephew in school. We're still working on it today. This young man's brother and sister-in-law, the parents of his nephew, were swiftly arrested and deported a few weeks ago, leaving their son to fend for himself. Fortunately, the boy had family here in Austin that could assume responsibility for him - his 20 year-old uncle. It seems hard to believe that the agents who arrested this couple didn't make provisions for this boy. I would have found it hard to believe except I've see and heard similar stories before.
I say all of this because I'm sure the agents acted well within the law. What they did was perfectly legal, but was it morally right? These are the kinds of issues that we must all face as a nation. This problem is not going away and our present approach has failed miserably. Yesterday was a reminder both of our failure and our promise. Failure, because this young boy's parents were deported without any regard for their young son. Promise, because there were people like me and others that are willing to help this family care for their abandoned son. A perfect snapshot of our immigration dilemma.
Immigration reform is just one of many major problems that Congress and our President must address in the months and years to come. But face it they must. Failure to do so will only accelerate the suffering in the Hispanic community and continue to block the economic boom it can create if we can move past our legalistic perspective and do what is true to our history (we are a nation of immigrants) and benefits all.
P. S. If you want to get a better perspective on the human effects of our present immigration system, check out the movie, The Visitor. Then tell me what you think.
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