Immigration Rally in Boston

Yesterday Sean Patrick Cardinal O'Mally spoke at the Immigration Rally in Boston. I was in attendance. As a bilingual teacher in the Boston Public Schools, I am painfully aware of how much the children of immigrant families are suffering as a result of their situation. There are no simple answers, and so we must be pragmatic. The conservative estimate is that there are eleven million undocumented hispanics in the United States and many other ethnic groups. Although I don't ask my students, I can assume that many of them are undocumented.

My experience has been that many or most of them have legitimate moral reasons for coming here. Who am I to judge the methods by which they landed here? Since I deal mainly with Latinos because I speak Spanish, I know that there is a perception of a double standard. Cubans can gain the right to stay simply by setting foot on American soil. That is because Cuba is Communist. Guatemalans will get sent back. That is because Guatemala is not Communist. Puertorricans are automatically citizens. Colombians who have money and are well educated can come easily, but Salvadorans and Dominicans are not wanted because they are poor and uneducated.

I must say that I bristle at the suggestion proposed in Congress that any American who lends aid to undocumented immigrants is committing a felony. What will this do to teachers, doctors, nurses, clergy, and lawyers? Am I a criminal if I help people in need of help? Surely such a law would be unconstitutional. It seems to me that this is driven by a very misguided fortress mentality. I am reminded of Rome. As school children we all learned that the fall of Rome was caused by a number of factors. One was the fact that many residents were denied citizenship, and the other was that the barbarians came in.

Europe first formed a common market and then opened up its borders between countries. Now there is a common currency. People from Spain can freely go and work in Germany, and the Germans are very happy to go to Spain on holiday. The only bad effect to this is that the standard of living in once poor Spain is now on a par with the rest of Europe and it is more expensive for tourists to go there. Couldn't we do the same in America? Couldn't we make a powerful common market here leading to a common currency and the opening of borders? It would be nice to be able to drive from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego without passing through a customs booth. Calling for no toll booths is probably too much to ask.

I call on Congress to enact a new immigration law because we must have a law; but please set politics asside and enact a law which is humane, helps reunite families, and protects the most vulnerable.

C. David Burt