Documenting the Undocumented: The Journey of the Immigrant

After orientating ourselves with the group that we were about to spend the next week with, a group of 11 students from Universidad Nacional de La Plata in Argentina and a group of 7 students from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, we listened to a presentation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Interestingly enough, the two men Rudy Bustamente and Armando Garcia,  were both of hispanic descent which puzzled me from the start. I was expecting two caucasians, but instead ICE sent us two fellow hispanics which lead me to believe whether or not ICE had intentions of indoctrinating us from the beginning.

The presentation that the two ICE workers offered was largely educational the foundation of it all, however, had a very clear underlining purpose. The majority of the presentation only focused on the contraband and illegal products that were coming into the country and how the wall has helped dramatically in stopping the drugs from coming in. It focused on the violence and danger that these drug lords bring to the border but completely ignored the majority of the people immigrating into this country; those that are here only looking for a better, secure job.  Rudy and Armando highlighted the border issues having to do with human and weapon trafficking while neglecting the individuals who come into the US only asking for a steady income to send back to their families. Though these men do protect our country from terrorist threats and many other inhumane acts brought on by some immigrants, they failed to realize the majority of good people that come in only looking for a better life.

When we confronted both Rudy and Armando about the reality of these border stories that we all had read about and some of us have lived through, they constantly dodged our questions and came back with a response saying, that with migrants comes violence, drugs, human trafficking, and money laundering. When we asked them if they personally thought that the “wall” approach was an effective one they said that if they had the resources to build a wall across the entire border, then yes, this approach would work.

I do not believe that these men are activists working in a system against basic human rights, instead I believe that there work is valuable and I am very grateful for it as a US citizen. However, I do believe that there is something wrong with their view of immigrants in this country. If we were to go back just a few generations they would see their ancestors embarking on a similar journey that many of the immigrants of today embark upon. They would realize that their great-grandparents were solely coming into our country in order to secure a better future for their children, just like the majority of immigrants of today. Though the ones that I refer to may have entered illegally this does not mean that they never tried to migrate legally in the past. The truth of the matter is that in order to get a visa to enter the US not only takes a substantial investment for many, but also comes with a great deal of uncertainty. Many go through the procedure of entering the country legally time and time again but are continually rejected. I am in no way saying that we should allow any and all immigrants to enter the US, to do so would only bring about an economic downturn, but rather I am proposing that we understand the struggle and hardships that many of these migrants have gone through. Leaving one’s family in order to secure a better life for them is not an easy task, yet this is what nearly all immigrants must do; it’s their only available option. If we truly wanted to rid our country of illegal immigrants then we would have to sacrifice a lot of the benefits we enjoy day to day. Its a clear fact that illegals stimulate the economy more than they contribute to its downturn; they work for small businesses and companies for pay that no American citizen would ever agree to work for. We could stop illegal immigration once and for all if we wanted, but do so would be economic suicide for many businesses. The “Immigration Problem” is not a black and white matter as many may consider it; next time we think about “blaming” the other side for the situation we must take this fact into consideration.