Osama bin Laden is presumed dead. Saddam Hussein, the murderous tyrant of Baghdad, has been hunted down and hanged. Khaddaffi is on the run. The sinister regime in Egypt has fallen, and the cries for liberty, the cries for freedom from fear, have echoed throughout the Middle East since the Arab Spring. These must be perceived as definite wins -- but what of our losses?
Next to the devastating loss of American lives, one of the most important casualties of the reactionary war on terrorism was immigration reform. Sometime before the ominous 2001date, the then-presidents, H.W. Bush and Vicente Fox of Mexico, had arrived at a consensus to meet US labor needs and allow millions of illegal laborers and de facto but undocumented citizens to step out of the shadows.
When the towers collapsed, so too did meaningful and humanitarian immigration reform. Reform collapsed not because of criminally misguided airplanes, but because of paranoia and fear -- two emotions that should be anathema to the American spirit. Our usual national attitude of welcoming the stranger and those hungry for liberty and a productive life, has dissipated, has dissolved. So much for Lady Liberty’s welcoming torch that should light the world.
Oppressive, totalitarian governments pass liberty-killing legislation and make high-sounding proclamations that are riddled with sweet words: Liberty. Security. Freedom. Homeland. Patriot. For instance, the stifling regime of Ethiopia and its rubber-stamp parliament have issued an edict called The Freedom of Mass Media Proclamation. The edict calls for measures that eviscerate the power of the press and squelch broadcasting of the truth. In North Korea, a so-called patriot act bars citizens from choosing where they may want to live.
Today, American citizens have a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and our Congress has passed the USA Patriot Act. Nice, cozy-sounding things. So, we’re used to seeing surveillance cameras everywhere; we have no problem with the fact that our telephone calls, our medical and financial records, and just about every other transaction or documentation of our activities is open to any government entity that feels it should have access. The government is even getting us used to having our most fundamental and personal realms of security – our bodies – invaded. We allow ourselves, our babies, and our elders to be humiliated with ludicrous and embarrassing pat downs before being “allowed” to travel by air.
Little by little, our personal liberties are being chipped away – for our own good, for our protection. Because of our paranoia and our fear. This is an especially good time to recall one of our founding fathers: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Ben Franklin.
Building on the paranoia and fear, Americans are now willing to hunt down and punish the other, the alien in our midst. Hoping to cast a smokescreen that makes it look as if they are doing something significant, some of our state legislators seem to be in competition to see who can come up with the most draconian anti-immigrant legislation possible. As with other regimes subversive to human liberty, some of the state representatives, especially those in Alabama, have actually called their nasty legislation “jobs protection bills” to benefit American workers. They are anything but. The legislation does allow for any citizen to be stopped and asked to present their “papers.”
Politicians who don’t have any answers or lack any strength of character to tackle vexing problems, will always single out the other, the alien, to be the scapegoat. Governments have done so since time unmemorable. According to them, illegal immigrants are responsible for high unemployment, decline in health services, the lack of effectiveness in our schools, and just the general malaise of the nation.
If ever there was a time to be vigilant, to arouse our national sense of being, to stop the erosion of our lives and our liberties, it is now. We need to throw off the yoke of fear. And if you’re thinking that such a loss of our national integrity could never happen, just remember that during World War II many good US citizens of Japanese extraction were hauled off to desolate camps far inland – we were afraid of them, our fellow Americans.
We need to move to do something tangible, meaningful, and humanitarian to help the 12 million people who are living in America, in the shadows. After all, someone appreciates them – they aren’t living here on air alone. We need to once again become Americans who do what’s right because it’s right, not a xenophobic reaction to others because of their skin color, their accent, or their religion, or perceived threats politicians love to indulge.
It’s either that, or let the terrorists be the ultimate winners as we become more paranoid, more willing to have our personal liberties drained away. As we become xenophobic and racist as we’ve never been before. As we quit being the magnanimous and humanitarian nation we once were. As we slink around looking with suspicion at anyone with a different skin color, an odd accent.
A naturalized Salvadoran immigrant, Lucas Avilio Guzman, was recently highlighted in a Washington Post article. He tends the garden at the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. He was working in a hotel across the highway from the Pentagon when Flight 77 struck, and he fled the area on foot amid the chaos. He remembers the faces of the survivors he encountered. Now he manicures the gravel and clears the fountains in a space that honors the 9/11 dead.
On a number of different levels, it is rather poignant that an immigrant is a caretaker of a national September 11 memorial. The same kind of person we seek to blame because of our fear and paranoia. The same kind of human who picks our strawberries and folds down our hotel beds. A person such as ourselves – someone seeking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Who is winning the war on terrorism after these ten long years?
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Lazaro Law Group, Professional Corporation represents immigrants all over the United States and the US Embassy in Manila. The firm’s offices are located in San Francisco, Fremont/Newark/Union City, and Sacramento, California. Attorney Johnson Lazaro can be reached at (415) 800-5775 or toll free at (855) 4-LAZARO. His email is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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This article should not be taken as legal advice for any individual case or situation. The information is intended to be general and should not be relied upon for any specific situation. This is not meant to create a lawyer-client relationship.
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