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A View on Immigration Reform in Houston by Lluvonia Graham
In what’s considered a strong and decisive move toward immigration reform, President Donald Trump has begun the first steps, and what many consider to be the most divisive steps, in his plan for the reformation of the current United States Immigration Plan.
This morning, the BBC reported that the US has sent its first group of Cuban detainees to Guantanamo Bay and announced his intention to expand the facility's capacity to 30,000 people. Currently, there are 15 detainees housed there.
Newly appointed Border Control Chief, Michael Banks, recently tweeted that, “In the past seven days, U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended 4,577 individuals attempting to enter the country illegally, a significant 55% decrease from the previous week’s 10,281 apprehensions.”
While I understand the need to control our borders and I understand that we need Immigration Reform…I am having a difficult time with the way we are implementing the reform.
With so many catch-alls and retention centers at our borders, and with so many policies put in place to deter foreign nationals from coming to this land, with the deletion of the phone app that allows aspiring Americans to make appointments at the border to gain entry… I find myself wondering if it is necessary to “round people up” and ship them, sometimes in what seems inhumane conditions, back to where they came from.
When I look into the faces of people in my community on the street who were once gregarious and willing to share their rich culture and their food and their heritage with me, now refuse to make eye contact and when I see the attendance rates in classrooms across Texas starting to plummet due to fear of “being found,” I wonder if this is the way to solve our issues- or is it something else?
Something more base, something more visceral, something more saddening.
The skywalks that cover Hwy 59 were a flash of color and spirit that I have yet to see in our modern era when thousands of Hispanic Americans, waving the flags of their respective countries, but mostly those of Mexico, crowded those overpasses and spilled into the highway in protest of the current Immigration Reform. Many of the signs they held were homemade and said things in Spanish that I could not understand, but the pride and strength and righteous indignation they conveyed were undeniable, and when I had the opportunity to speak with one of the participants she summed it for me simply and eloquently- “We built this, we are here and we belong” and that telling of her truth hit me like a brick of desert sand and clay molded by years of fight and determination.
The entire interaction and occurrence lasted no longer than 15-20 minutes, but left an indelible mark on my heart and a bruised sense of patriotism and wondering…is there a better way?
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