“War is,” Muhammad wrote me from Yemen. “Everything is chaotic. Schools are closed. People have no food to eat. Everyone is scared. It is very dangerous. Young children have guns and other weapons.”
“Politics is corrupt in Bangladesh,” Tamjid wrote. “Schools are always closed due to attacks. Many students are afraid of going to school.”
Miguel of Columbia wrote, “We came here because my father was threatened and my family feared he would hurt us.”
There were 81 such cards-hand-made, hand-written and colored in crayons were taking personal messages from immigrant children living in America.
Six years ago, I gave a thing in front of some 150 students, teachers and parents for a public middle school, a public middle school for grade six through eight in New York City, Academy for New Americans. The school recently educated immigrant children who do not know very little or any English, but those who then graduate fluent English. Later, one of the students gave me a big Manila envelope with 81 cards.
The second day, provoked by New exile policy Nationwide, coming out of such a thunderous nationwide, I once again saw the card.
Those teenagers moved from dozens of countries to America: Albania, Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Al Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mauritania, Mexico, Morcho, Nepal, Parague, Pacisan, Spain, Spain, Spain, Spain, Some families, children wrote me, Had away from violent crime, civil war and other difficulties. The card provides a snapshot, which provides a multi-cultural cross-section of immigrant youth in the US, which is craving for free breath.
The students told me that they expect to go to life here in America, almost all said that they intend to carry forward unavailable educational and economic opportunities. He declared ambitions as a doctor, lawyer, entrepreneur, computer scientist, dentist, mechanical engineer and, yes, professional football players.
A student wrote, “My mother, father and I am very happy to come here in the United States.” “We will soon be citizens.” Another said to me, “I come to New York to be someone in my life.” Nevertheless, another said behind his card, “Follow your dreams.”
These 81 children, now at the age of about 18 to 24 years, since composing those notes, how have those notes have been made for me? Did he graduate from high school? Are they participating in college? Are they still dreaming of American dreams?
I tried to find out. I emailed the teacher who originally invited me. no response. I also reached the principal of the school seeking updates on the children. No answer. I chased many times, there was always no benefit.
I suspect that they are scared – afraid of questions that I may ask and are afraid to speak for a record, but scared themselves to themselves than those children. I have no idea whether the parents of these 81 children came here legally or illegally are documented or specified, or criminal records. Whatever it is, it may be that they are all – students, parents, teachers and principal are now scared.
I am neither a lawyer nor a specialist of immigration policy, but what I have understood can be with those 81 children: even children who came here can also be deported in some circumstances, such as visa expiry. The postponed action for the childhood arrival program designed to protect unspecified individuals brought to the US as children can be abolished. If the children are parents who are to be deported, the children may have to choose between them returning home, or separate from the family how long they know.
The widespread concern remains on how the new exile policy is being implemented and implemented. The current campaign is quite public opposition, the courts are facing intervening and facing legal challenges that ask for some flexibility. More than some immigrant families with children who can afford to do so, they have consulted immigration lawyers to navigate the rising danger.
Do not make any mistake: Law is law, and the law should be retained. But the law is subject to interpretation, conscience and leave. And the law in its heart is about the discovery of justice, and thus it should be accepted that some circumstances are special if there is no singular.
Our country is endowed with an immigrant heritage which is in class worldwide. A sense of fairness demands that we demonstrate kindness and compassion, especially on children who are guilty of nothing but being children.
There was often a certain word of greeting on me in the cover of cards received from those 81 children. This is the same word they still deserve to hear from all of us. That word “welcome.”
Bob Body, an advisor and essayist, is the author of a former new yorker and memoir “Playing catch with strangers: A family person (reluctantly) comes of age.”
