‘De-privatize the subject of immigration’

The following letter was submitted to Workers World by Gerardo Cajamarca Alarcón, a Colombian human rights advocate and member of the Coca-Cola workers’ union, SINALTRAINAL. Cajamarca is in exile in the United States because of death threats he received from paramilitaries.

De-privatize the subject of immigration. This is an urgent necessity for progress.

I believe that the subject of immigration has many approaches. During almost 700 days living in the United States, I have had the opportunity to participate in activities with several organizations.

Each organization and individual works hard for immigrants in the broad context of human rights, everyone in their own way, with their particular vision and values, with their political and economic resources, but all in general have the desire to do the right thing.

But I have always found the best and greatest learning experience could be found in the streets, on the bus, in the clinic, in the park, speaking with people. Surely people know much more than we believe they do.

People know what is just and unjust because every one has experienced or suffered it; they know why they come here, they have suffered from poverty or war, or both, and they are here to transform this terrible reality in their own way and according to their possibilities.

We work hard. We study hard. Some of us think of returning to live in our homeland, particularly those of us who are here against our will. But those who make the decision to become nationals or to permanently reside in this country have the right to make it without discrimination or racism. This is, in the end, a country of immigrants.

Reality and what to do

Steven Camarota, author of a recent study, affirms that immigration to the United States reached a record level between March of 2000 and March of 2005, with 7.9 million new immigrants, including documented and undocumented—the high est number reached in a five-year period in the history of this country. More than half of those—3.7 million—who arrived after 2000 are without papers, the Center for Immigration Studies report says, using data provided by the United States census. By March 2005, some 35.2 million documented and undocumented immigrants were living in the United States—a record level.

The measures to stop immigration are ridiculous; fences as high and expensive as they are useless, since people will continue to build tunnels or devise other means of arriving at their destiny.

But while we are here there are many issues to resolve.

The first is to accept reality: We are here, more will arrive by thousands and we will remain here until we reach our objectives. So it is necessary to set up rules for coexistence; this means justice, that we be treated with dignity as human beings. This implies a program of basic issues: work in worthy conditions, a job with just wages and without discrimination; good health services, education and social security at all levels and in equal conditions.

The second subject is to put in perspective whether immigration is legal or illegal. I say “to put in perspective” because immigrants will always exist; that has been the history of humanity.

What is irrational is that millions of people must leave their countries of origin, against their will, to arrive someplace where they are persecuted as if they were criminals.

We have the responsibility to confront and resolve the objective causes of the irrational phenomenon of forced immigration. To struggle against war is a fundamental task for such a goal.

This task is not as complicated as it is claimed. One simply must learn to solve conflicts without arrogance, respecting the right and the dignity of others without any type of imposition.

It is essential to resolve the terrible inequalities between the haves and have-nots; whether this is among individuals, social classes or countries.

While hunger, war and lack of opportunities exist in our countries of origin, emigration will be a constant; the only variable will be the exact number of those who decide to leave their country to look for new opportunities.

The accumulation of wealth in a few hands is a crime. It is antisocial behavior.

This is the approach we must take if we want to seriously and responsibly consider the subject of immigration: poverty and wealth, war, unjust commerce and free trade agreements, self-determination of the peoples and peaceful coexistence. But all these issues must be in the public domain. It is necessary to share them, discuss them in the schools, in the churches, in the unions and among all. Find the path, the proposal and make it a reality with those who govern—a practical and real exercise in democracy.

“De-privatize the subject of immigration” means not only taking the issue away from the offices of the corporations that profit from fear, but also from government offices or those who believe the community is something to plunder to satisfy their interests or egos, and bring it to the people as a whole for debate and action.

Gerardo Cajamarca Alarcón
Colombian immigrant
[email protected]
www.sinaltrainal.org