El Hielo anda suelto por esas calles, Lloran los niños, lloran a la salida
ICE is loose in those streets. Crying children, they cry when when we leave.
Immigration in the U.S has been an integral part of the economy and allows diversity to color our communities. Those who immigrate find it vital for survival and oftentimes have no other option. Immigrating to the united states drastically improves their lives and allows them the opportunity to achieve a great future, “Compared with all Americans, U.S.-born children of immigrants are more likely to go to college, less likely to live in poverty, and equally likely to be homeowners. Thirty-six percent of U.S.-born children of immigrants are college graduates — 5 percent above the national average”.
My entire life I never fear that my relatives would be deported, I never thought of it as a very real possibility. However, with Trump elected president it is all I fear. President Donald Trump has not wasted any time in terrorizing illegal immigrants with new plans of eradicating them. The president has “issued orders to stiffen enforcement along the border and cast a wider net in the U.S. interior. Those orders, accompanied by agency memoranda that change longstanding policy in a range of areas, have resulted in stark shifts in immigration enforcement within U.S. communities”. This has stopped the lives of those undocumented and has filled them with constant fear of being ripped from their families. These communities are forced to continue to live their lives, go to work, and pretend there is nothing wrong because if they do not, then there is no way to survive. Many immigrants had a traumatic time coming to the United States and do not wish to ever relive it. They have fought to be in this country, but more importantly, they have fought for their lives– even though it meant leaving their homes and immigrating to a new world.
The anthology, “The Adivasi Will Not Dance” written by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar contains the story, “November is the month of migration”, which is an inside look at what can happen when one is living in poverty and is migrating to a new place. Shekhar exquisitely captures the experience of one young girl and paints the picture of her selling herself for food and some money. Shekhar’s vulgar and blunt syntax allows the reader to feel the uncomfortableness of the situation and understand how common it is. The story “came under attack from political parties and social outfits for allegedly being pornographic in nature and portraying a wrong picture of Santhali community and its women”. I present this story because this author has captured the well known, unspoken truth about young girls immigrating to another country. This story resonated with me because it reminded me of my aunt — actually a close family friend– who immigrated to the United Stated at the age of thirteen. So young and vulnerable, she was taken advantage of by officials who were willing to look the other way if she paid the right price. She had heard that this was common and knew of other women and girls who did the exact same thing for the freedom and opportunity to come to the United States.
My aunt recently told me this when Trump was taking action against the undocumented. She was always scared of being deported but having lived in California for thirty- two years, she has since let this fear control her freedom. However, she is currently living in terror that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will find out that she is here illegally and deport her. She has three children and cries at the thought of missing their greatest life milestones. Even though ICE is mainly targeting those with criminal records, “the agency also takes into custody unauthorized immigrants incidentally encountered during these operations. Those in the country illegally “should be uncomfortable,” the acting ICE Director said recently. “You should look over your shoulder”. She is constantly looking over her shoulder and it is heartbreaking to see.
What Trump may not see because of his racist views is that immigrants are vital to this country. Immigrant, as mentioned before, play a big part in the economy and if they are being deported, the United States will take a big hit, “Unauthorized immigrants contribute significantly to Social Security and Medicare. In 2010, unauthorized immigrants paid $13 billion into Social Security and received only $1 billion in services — a net contribution of $12 billion. Further, from 2000 to 2011, unauthorized immigrants paid $35.1 billion more into Medicare than they withdrew”. The immigration situation is tremendously flawed and under the Trump Administration, it will only continue to harm the United States and its citizens.
