Why The Immigration Issue Matters To All Latinos
Conventional thought seems to hold that not all Latinos care about immigration; that Latinos who are not themselves immigrants or who are generations removed from the immigrant experience are not interested.
The immigration issue is not about immigrants.
It makes sense. If your immigration or residence status is not a primary concern then more than likely you care more about jobs, the economy, education, health or national security; the same things that most Americans are concerned with. Immigration is more of a fringe issue in that sense. The Right fringe presses for tighter immigration laws while the Left fringe resists.
Yet, ask any American what they think about immigration and they’ll have a reasonably concerned answer. Latino Americans are no different. And that’s because this issue is not about immigrants, per se; it’s about the idea of immigration, it goes to the central idea of who we are as Americans.
This isn’t the first time in American history that immigrants have been hassled. The late Willie Velasquez called it the American guantlet: in their time the great immigrant waves of the past have been ostracized – germans, italians, irish, polish. “It’s our turn,” Willie said. Each immigrant wave challenged the idea of what America was becoming. This is no different.
This time it’s about us.
When we write and discuss and act on any issue of importance to Latinos in America we’re writing and acting and discussing about the same thing, immigration included. Everything from jobs and health to education and veterans’ affairs speaks to the Latino community’s place in the American fabric. Immigration is just the focal point.
Any discussion about what it means to be an American will be, by default, loud and contentious. But I wouldn’t expect for it to be otherwise. That’s what happens in a nation of laws that strives to be a more perfect union. Latinos are changing America, that’s a fact. The immigration issue is about that change and about the fear of what America may or may not become.
The founding fathers established a nation on the idea that the equality of all people is a self evident truth. And that’s at the heart of our discussion.
Latinos carry a huge responsibility.
It’s precisely because it’s our turn through the gauntlet that all Latinos should care about the immigration issue.
Latinos are at the center of the discussion about what it means to be American and it isn’t a position to take lightly. Neither is it a position that comes easily. Because of timing and birthrates we are the Americans that history is calling on to push this nation forward. And yet, in order to do that we first have to establish our place firmly in the American family.
We can’t back-burner immigration because we aren’t immigrants in the legal sense – we have to face this head-on because we’re Americans.
Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda
[Photo by Britt Selvitelle]
