Sometimes it’s hard, no matter how much we talk about it, to understand how immigration reform could and does affect American citizens.
We don’t often get to hear someone other than a politician talk about illegal border crossings and ?deportation. I could write a column about how we don’t give voices to victims and breed and digest racism, but I don’t want to.
Instead, I can really only applaud Diane Guerrero’s brave decision to tell her story.
Guerrero plays Maritza Ramos in the popular Netflix television show “Orange is the New Black.” She’s an audience favorite, and recently, her popularity allowed her to give a face to the children of illegal immigrants and immigrant families.
Guerrero wrote an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times about her experience as the child of illegal ?immigrants.
When she was 14, her parents were deported. She described coming home from school to an empty house. She said it looked as though her parents were in the middle of making dinner. I shouldn’t have been surprised by the content of the column, but I was.
“Not a single person at any level of government took notice of me,” she wrote. “No one checked to see if I had a place to live or food to eat, and at 14, I basically found myself living on my own.”
This is the first time I had ever read something about the plight of immigrant children that wasn’t a work of fiction or a movie. I always felt somewhat distant from the situation. My entire mindset consisted of, “That’s rough for them.”
I don’t believe illegal immigrants should be immediately deported, and I wholeheartedly support movements to make gaining American citizenship easier. I recognize that coming to America is often a person’s only option, and I don’t want to deny someone the opportunity for a better life.
But when we stand on platforms and expound upon this policy or that law, we take the human element out of the problem. We make it about money and jobs and economic ?impact.
And we severely harm groups of innocent people, such as children. Such as Guerrero.
If we are going to deport people, but we have laws allowing their children to stay in the country, we need to have a system in place to grant children asylum, open up channels for foster care and ensure these kids are safe and protected, even if their parents are gone or working on ?citizenship status.
The Obama administration has attempted to rectify the situation. In September, $9 million was allotted to taxpayer-funded attorneys to aid illegal children who have crossed the border but have no family.
I believe this issue can be fixed. I applaud Guerrero for telling her story and bringing a human element to a controversial issue. And I completely agree with her. Our congress needs to provide fair legislation so we can properly protect immigrant children and end the unfair separation of ?immigrant families.
ewenning@indiana.edu
