Days with Mexicans, By Lynette Seator

In a cartoon in New Yorker magazine we see the Mayflower, the clipper ship that brought the first English settlers to the new world, approaching the shore where two Indians stand observing. One comments: "They look undocumented to me."

In another cartoon we see that the Mayflower has already landed, and the new arrivals have settled in. Two Indians are going about their own activities. One looks back over his shoulder at the immigrants. "They won't learn the language. They're not assimilating. They don't look like us. Put them back on the Mayflower."
In textbooks, when I was going to school, Jamestown got a lot of hype as the first settlement from overseas in what was to be the United States. The fact is that the first settlement was established by the Spanish in the Southwest. All of that territory that would become the Wild West, with its cowboys and gun-toting heroes, was established by Spanish-speaking people. The horses, and especially the sheep, that thrived in that arid region and were so important in the developing economy of the southwestern United States all came from Spain.
The idea of constructing a wall to stretch along the Mexican/American border to keep people south of that wall from entering the United States would deny historical reality. A wall would also be a denial of today's need on one side for employment and on the other for employees. It would be a scar across the landscape, as notorious a symbol of oppression as the Berlin Wall.
On May 1, it was wonderful to look out at the gathering of Mexican and foreign residents of San Miguel rallying for a common cause. Many US citizens have already signed a petition to be sent to the US Congress. It expresses strong disapproval of the abuse of Mexican immigrants working in the US and vehemently speaks out against legislation to remove services from them and criminalize their status. "For our country to officially discriminate against Mexican immigrants, brand them as felons and deport them would bring deserved shame on us all." The statue of liberty symbolizes opportunity for those who seek it. Let the US not turn its back on its own ideals.
To speak of immigrants as a drain on the US is to fail to understand that undocumented immigrants pay taxes and social security but do not receive social security. Eighty percent of what they earn goes right back into the US economy, and citizens are rarely displaced by Mexicans. The few who are tend to seek a way to upgrade their skills. Immigrant workers actually make it possible to keep some industries competitive that would otherwise go to China or India.
One of my daughters is an immigration lawyer who has worked desperately day and night to help her clients get papers and save them from deportation. Since 9/11, the already stringent policies have turned brutal. The new acronym for the US immigration service is ICE. Appropriate indeed, in view of the fact that in order to receive papers giving official permission to reside and work in the US, an applicant may have to wait until hell freezes over.
On a more positive note, let me say that when I return for a visit to Chicago, the city of my birth, part of my pleasure in being there is meeting many Mexicans. Rather than build a wall to separate our countries, let's invest our energies in tearing down prejudice.

Lynette Seator is a Professor Emerita of Spanish literature who now writes poetry and occasional newspaper articles.