Respect for immigrants

By Victoria Vera

In the 1800’s european immigrants came to America in search of land to farm, ways to make
money and ultimately to build a better life. This happened years ago. But almost the same exact
story is occurring right now. Mexican immigrants coming to america. They ride the ramshackle
freight train known as La bestia (the beast) These trains are loaded with cement, iron, wheat,
but most importantly human cattle along for the ride who have no food, drink or guarantee of
safety. The trip to the United State’s border on La Beastia takes two weeks. During the journey
many accidents happen, such as falling off the roof of the train and having limbs severed.

And on top of that, Pregnant mothers, infants, teenagers and adults will sleep on the dirty
streets, alongside gangs. Murders, mugging, extortions, gang rapes of women and children
along with kidnappings (some 20,000 a year) are committed by the central American gang
known as Mara Salvatrucha, or the drug trafficking gang known as the bloodthirsty Zetas​. They
are known for terrorizing the groups of travelling migrants a boarding the train , tricking girls into
prostitution, luring young boys into gangs, or murdering travellers.

And at each stop, migrants are prey to ​local police, who demand bribes up to thousands of
dollars ​in exchange for letting them free and allowing them to continue their journey. But still,
many Mexicans grow up knowing the road to the American dream that runs through the
Mexican Nightmare and that many passengers aboarding the “train of death” will most likely be
robbed, raped, disappear or die.

My people, who send their children in the back of trucks or on top of a train. My people who
spend half their life saving up the money to go on this journey and dont even know if theyĺl make
it. But they still go, because my people are warriors.

Let me tell you about my people.

The first one is uan, he is 72, and when telling the story of how he crossed the border. He said “I
ran and ran and ran, and I fell down and continued running; they almost caught me several
times but I continued running because I was thinking of my family. I had to reach the United
States, and I had to make enough money to feed my people. You cannot maintain a family here
in Mexico.”
The second is my father, who came home with dirt filled hands and a proud spirit, to my
grandfather who worked his whole life just to get to America. This is one example of many who
live here to make themselves better people, and are more than willing to work to give their
family better lives.
Many come here, to make their homeland a better place as well, such as ​Miguel “El Huerito,”
who returned to his village after spending 10 years in California. He said“They gave me a job
the first day I arrived in the United States. I sent money to my wife every night. Because of this
she was able to buy land and begin to build our house. One day she told me, ‘The work is
finished. Whenever you are ready to return, you will be coming to your own home.’”
So, when we hear, go back to your country, never discount how hard we’re working to be able
to. Because we work hard, because sometimes it’s bigger than what we do for America, it goes
to how hard we work to make Mexico a better place for our families who are still there.

But sometimes we don’t get to choose to go home, we’re forced.

An example of this is, ​American citizen Lace Rodriguez and her husband Javier Guerrero from
Mexico,. The family lived together in Phoenix before Guerrero, an undocumented worker from
Mexico, was detained by the Border Patrol after being stopped for speeding and then deported
Mexico. Guerrero had lived in the United States for 17 years. He and Rodriguez, a medical
student, have two children, and she is nine months pregnant with a third. The splitting up of
families has become a major issue as the U.S. works towards immigration reform.

According to the law, deportation is defined as, ​the legal process of removing a non-citizen from
the United States.
It seems so straight forward, as if it is done simply and fairly.
But that’s not always the case.

In most cases, ​deportation proceedings begin with the non-citizen's arrest by U.S. immigration
authorities. In other cases, they're simply the next procedural step after the person has applied
for an immigration benefit, such as a green card or the ability to legally work, and been rudely
denied.
The same way deportations can be, rude and unforgiving,
Let me tell you about deportation raids.
This is typically when immigration authorities arrive on doorsteps - often in predominantly Latino
neighbourhoods and demand papers​.
Let me pause for a moment and say, not every Mexican immigrant is illegal, so the fact that
police would assume that they could come to a mexican neighborhood and find people to
deport, is racial profiling, and that’s not okay.

But moving on,

The activists and undocumented people who spoke to Al Jazeera say that sometimes
undocumented people on the other side of the door assume that there is an issue and the police
are there to protect them.
So, they open the door. And legally, that's when the agents are allowed to enter, and terrorize
the suspected undocumented person,
Suspected.
I know of cases of people who happened to answer the door when ICE showed up to their
house. And they describe it as the most horrifying moment of their life.
There is nowhere to run and no one to scream to.
There is no forgiveness and no heart.
These people are being treated as criminals, they’re being taken away like animals.
After they risked their lives to make themselves a better person, they are seen as bad because
they are illegal.
There is no such thing as an illegal human being.
There has been a bigger nationwide sweep than ever before, ever since Donald Trump came
into office.
​Trump just recently signed an executive order calling for the construction of a bigger, more
impenetrable border wall across the US border with Mexico. He plans to deport as many as 8
million undocumented immigrants.
Because of this the mexican community is being terrorised - they think everyone is being
deported. They don't even want to go out any more. Even permanent residents are cancelling
trips to Mexico, to visit their families, because they are terrified even if they are here legally and
have a green card,
Even legal mexican immigrants are as scared as the illegal ones.
So if the opposedly “good side” is as attacked as the bad.
Maybe there aren’t any sides.
Perhaps it is an attack against the entire group of people. My people, who sent their children as
young as newborns to America, my people who pay someone to hold their child’s life in their
hands while driving them here in the back of a truck, my people who sleep on train tracks and
walk hundreds of miles. My people, who cross scorching deserts with burning backs and sweat
filled brows, carrying the American spirit.

The truth is, Illegal immigrants are never going to go away.You can tell us we are here to steal
your jobs, We will work harder. You can tell us we are drug lords, rapists or thieves,And We will
keep sending our children with bright eyes and even brighter future
Because my people have worked too damn hard and sacrificed too much to be told we don’t
belong here. We have proven that we deserve to have a better life. And weŕe here to stay.