On April 3, the Inquirer published an article by Kevin Freking. It began, "The Obama administration said Monday that it had arrested more than 3,100 immigrants who were illegally in the country and had been convicted of serious crimes or otherwise were considered fugitives or threats to national security." This is only partially true. The Obama administration did arrest 3,100 immigrants in a 6 day national sweep.
I work with a lot of Hispanics, some of whom are immigrants. They are not criminals. I will give you 3 examples, not using their real names. There is Isabel. Isabel was brought here when she was 15 years old, married, divorced, and now raising 2 teenage boys by herself. This is not an easy task. As any single mother will tell you trying to work and be present to your children and helping them with their life challenges is a very demanding and exhausting job. Add to that you do not have documents, so you can't legally drive; you can't get a job because you and your employer will be penalized. I wonder what threat this woman is to national security or even what interest she has in terrorizing a nation when her hands are full with raising two boys without any legal documents. Or maybe the criminal he was referring to was Alba. Alba was brought to this country when she was 5 years old. She is a credit to this country. She was raised in the American school system, pledged allegiance to the flag, sang the star-spangled banner, went to a university, and yet she does not have legal documents. She has been convicted of no crimes. In fact she is a very generous person, who has done hours of volunteer work for worthy causes. What was her crime? Obeying her parents when she was 5 years old. For this, the Obama administration would like to deport her by dropping her on the other side of the border to a land which she is unfamiliar, without any money and the inability to get to any distant relatives she may have heard of and never met. Then, there is Maria. What is Maria's crime? Oh, that's right, she is a criminal according to our laws. However, I do not think her crime is serious nor do I think it is a threat to national security. She is the mother of 3 young children, all American citizens, and was already deported once. If you come back after being deported, it is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. I do not know of too many mothers who would not do the same thing as Maria. Good mothers do not abandon their small children. Most of us, I hope, would do exactly what Maria did and try to be reunited with her young children who needed her. I know of many more cases where innocent immigrants, many elegible for the Dream Act, have been unjustly imprisoned. I am only one person, and know so many. I would imagine there have been many, many more who have not committed serious crimes, or are a threat to national security. I can just imagine generations from now reading the history of this time, and question, "What were they thinking?"
