Confessions

As a white citizen raised in the US, I'm often asked the question: "So why are you so interested in immigrant rights?" Usually I answer with a rambling tirade about social justice and the global order of things - real big picture thoughts. But I've been thinking a lot lately about the deeper reasons for my involvement, and I admit have a confession to make. At the heart of the matter, my reasons for engaging in this work are actually a lot more personal than it might seem at first glance:

I was raised in a family where I was taught to value diversity, fairness, and the contributions of immigrants. 7 of my 8 great-grandparents were immigrants to this country from Europe and the stories about their early struggles and later successes in the US were always a prominent part of the stories I was told as a child. Also, 2 of my siblings were immigrants, adopted from Latin America when they were young. My parents were excited about diversity and would always seek out immigrant neighborhoods and interesting restaurants near our hometown on Long Island, New York and bring us along. And lastly, my parents cared deeply about fairness and justice. While my parents weren’t very vocal about these intentions, I always noticed how they treated others with dignity, how they devoted their lives to serving others, and how I would sometimes be brought along to the occasional protest for a social justice cause.

Growing up in my household, it was only natural to accept immigrants as valuable members of our society, as people that needed to be respected and appreciated for their unique contributions.

Maybe that’s why I was so stunned to learn, in the early 2000s, about the rising anti-immigrant movement in the towns around where I grew up. I learned about immigrant beatings and other hate crimes carried out by people as young as high-schoolers. What would make some of my neighbors have such deep-seated hatred against other neighbors of mine, just because they were immigrants? How could this be happening in my community? It made me sick to my stomach. I felt a sense of responsibility for addressing the issue: to play my part to root out the anti-immigrant sentiment and to work for justice for immigrants in the communities where I lived (although at that time I didn’t really know how I could do it). I also was curious to learn more about these immigrant communities. Who were these immigrants and where are they coming from? Why were so many immigrants in the US undocumented – why didn’t they come via legal channels? While I was taught to value diversity growing up, my hometown was actually pretty homogenous white middle-class. I had had exposure to immigrant groups, but I didn’t have many personal relationships and lacked this deeper understanding.

In college, I started working with immigrant populations in the city where I lived, volunteering at the local high school and in a health clinic, and also made friends with classmates of mine who were immigrants themselves. I learned through their stories about the barriers, struggles, and racism immigrants in this country, particularly immigrants of color, experience. I also learned that, while there are some legal channels that certain immigrant-hopefuls could follow in order to “get in line” and come to the US with papers, most immigrants from traditional immigrant sending countries had virtually no legal channel available to them. This was especially true for unskilled workers, hence the root of many of my city’s immigrants’ “undocumented-ness.” Lastly, I learned that immigrant populations brought beautiful diversity and also economic advantages to our city.

I felt committed to continue to work with immigrant groups, so I went to Mexico for a year to get fluent in Spanish. While there, I worked in a migrant shelter in southern Mexico, where I met migrants on their journey to the US and learned about the dangers and exploitation they face while traveling. These experiences strengthened my resolve to work to combat the injustices faced by immigrants and their families. When I came back from Mexico, I got a lot more political and I started getting more outspoken about the need for policy change to protect immigrant human rights. I felt like I owed it to all the people I met in the shelter who were generous enough to share their stories with me.

So that's where I'm at now. I want to work in solidarity with immigrant groups and also help educate and mobilize people from communities like the one I grew up in to take a stand for the cause. I'm committed. I'll do it until we truly achieve "liberty and justice for all" - both at home and in immigrants' home countries. There's a lot of work to do.