On April 10 a letter from Ben Castillo of Harlingen, titled “Don’t defend immigration,” suggests my opinion on immigration is “deceitful and moreover an act of malfeasance under the guise of compassion.”
Since when is an opinion a falsity? Especially when that opinion is so labeled up front?
I believe in religion, in biblical teachings, and most of all in compassion. I am a Christian. I am an American, who believes in the dignity and nobility of man, every man. And I find most people on the right and on the MAGA bandwagon (which I presume Mr. Castillo to be) misconstrue or conveniently misrepresent my stand on “open borders” and immigration.
My opinion is a simple one. It is one of compassion and of the reality of the world around us. It is based on respect and regard for my fellow man, and for his desire to seek a place where he can breathe free and be free, just like our forefathers (white men and women) who once sought a place where they could worship freely, and live their truth, and like our Mexican-American ancestors, who also pioneered their way to a better place across the Rio Grande.
Pioneers, explorers, dreamers. All of them immigrants. All of them human beings. All of them (white, brown, Black, or any shade in between) worthy of respect and consideration.
My words do not mean, nor are they intended to support “open borders” or unchecked or unrestricted immigration. They never have and never will. My words and my feelings simply suggest treating those seeking to enter our country, and/or those who are found to have illegally entered our country, with human dignity and compassion, and not with disdain, scorn or contempt.
I am not a legal or illegal “immigrant activist/apologist,” as Mr. Castillo suggests, who “turns a blind eye, or ignores, the cost incurred by American taxpayers for massive/unrestricted immigration.” I am a realist, something the far right and the MAGA cult shirks away from. I believe in the rule of law, again, something the far right and the MAGA cult eschews and is attempting to abolish and simply “cancel” altogether.
To people who support his thinking, everything in the world revolves around money, power, control. How sad that they have forgotten their roots, whether white, brown, Black or any shade in between. How sad that they cannot simply acknowledge that treating people (whether men, women or children) inhumanely, callously and even sadistically, is not, and should not be, America’s answer to our border problem or our immigration problem.
Both are certainly problems. But problems with solutions and with reactions that do not include malicious cruelty or shameful treatment of human beings.
Have we not learned from history? Has history not already condemned the use and abuse of human beings and of human dignity?
We are all born with the human resolve to persevere, despite the obstacles and impediments that life puts in front of us. Especially immigrants who seek a better life, despite the animosity of people like Mr. Castillo and those like him.
My opinion is simply that. While our Congress continues to sit on their behinds doing nothing with regard to our border and our immigration problems and concerns, because of “obstructionist” and outright bigoted beliefs and misguided agendas, our border guards, our law enforcement agencies and our citizenry in general should have compassion (with or without religious and biblical overtones) in the treatment of fellow human beings, regardless of color, of ethnicity or financial wherewithal. It’s not only the American way, it’s the Christian way. It’s the right way.
Cages; abducting children from their mothers, then losing them; degrading and demeaning men and women of character and of passion; is no way to treat a fellow human being.
Mr. Castillo, I may disagree with your “opinion,” your view of the real world around you, and your beliefs or lack thereof, but I respect your right to think, to speak, to believe. So smell the air and feel the wind that blows across this great land of ours. America is a beacon to the world. America is a golden reflection in the shadows of time. And we should embrace the magnetism and allure of our democracy, not limit or constrain it, or attempt to cover it with the dust of history that once thought human dignity irrelevant and unworthy of consideration. We cannot slide down that slippery slope again, and survive.
Al Garcia lives in San Juan.
