Wait, You're Human? Me Too!

Unedited version of my editorial piece in The Emory Wheel

As the Republican Party is split over a controversial immigration debate, the rest of the nation stands confused more than divided. The protectionist flag-waving Americans want to build a 700-mile wall to block foreign lawbreakers. The free-market politicians want a hardworking labor force strong enough to do our dirtiest jobs.

So which one is it? When I look at Narden Garero crossing the border, am I supposed to dehumanize him into a brutish menace or count him as another blessing from the skies? For history has taught us that how we define a group of people has a direct effect on how we act towards them. Before we approach the discussion table then, my only hope is to view them as neither a threat nor perfect, but human.

One of the most influential activists and scholars, W.E.B. DuBois, wrote in his compelling book, The Souls of Black Folks, “Between me and the other world there is ever an unmasked question:…How does it feel to be a problem?” A hundred years after its publication, America is asking the same question to undocumented workers.

In a meeting last Friday with Mexican President Vicente Fox, President Bush said, “I believe these programs will help us rid the society and the border of these coyotes.” Creator of the more stringent border security bill and Republican senator, Bill Frist, said he intends to “make America safer from foreign criminals and terrorists.”

When we are being asked to cope with “coyotes” and “foreign criminals,” it is no surprise that we are willing to call their crime a felony (same for murder and rape). They have essentially become a powerful, inescapable mental image of invaders that undermine the authority of the American law, threaten national security, and destroy American jobs and culture.

But before we transform immigrants into hazardous parasites whose goal is to seek and destroy, allow me to debunk a few myths. First, undocumented workers pay taxes. Many pay real estate taxes, either as homeowners or as part of their rent. In addition, three-quarters of undocumented workers pay payroll taxes, contributing as much as $7 billion in Social Security funds that they will never claim.

Secondly, they are in many cases, not stealing anybody else’s dream or job. Immigration lawyer, Geoff Tobias said in an interview with CNN, “We’re talking about 18-dollar-an hour welding jobs…many American companies would seize to exist without the immigration labor force.” For example, Tom Wolfgang’s trucking company had to downsize 20 percent because he couldn’t find enough workers.

Finally, the building of a 700-mile wall makes it seem as if immigrants are prancing along an imaginary line with incompetent Border Patrol agents. But the reality is that it is a long and arduous journey. After raising $2,000, immigrants embark on “El Tren de la Muerte,” or “The Trail of Death,” battling bandits and enduring hunger and thirst on a 1,200-mile journey. Many not only fail to pass the border, but some do not even survive.

In the same respect that these immigrants crossing the Mexican border are not the villains of our American narrative, we would be lying to ourselves if we said they are your cookie cutter American citizen. Evidenced by the various protests in the streets of Denver, Los Angeles, Phoenix and dozens of other cities, reports indicated that American flags were outnumbered by those of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and other countries.

Though America may have been their home for the past five years or 40 years, it i impractical to believe that their love and pride in a country they shared memories of births, weddings, and graduations would simply be abandoned by the wayside. They struggle with an unfamiliar language and strange customs, not to mention that American patriotism may be the most foreign concept of all.

For now, my goal is not to urge people to advocate the Specter bill or the Frist bill, though my leanings may be obvious. But I do believe it is essential to define them as human before we decide on the fate of 11 million people. This first step to humanize is the least we can ask of our politicians, the media, and ourselves.