LATINOS MARCH FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Yesterday, most major cities had marches by Latinos and other immigrants, many undocumented, for a saner U.S. immigration policy. I saw one sign, "JUSTICIA PARA TODOS." Or JUSTICE FOR ALL. By "justice," the marchers mean they want the U.S. authorities to accord them human dignity, respect and basic human rights. Undocumented immigrants want to live their lives in peaceful quiet, without having to live in fear at every moment that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will bust into their homes at night, take their spouses away to some jail far away, and deport them. Undocumented immigrants want their children to grow up without the recurrent nightmares that their parents will disappear into ICE's prisons.

A just immigration policy should recognize that human beings have a right to go where they want, no matter what or where the artificial borders. Every person has a right to seek a job by which he/she can put food on the table. Every person has a right to provide for his/her family. A just and sane immigration policy will recognize these human rights and allow unrestricted access to our country to anyone with peaceful intentions.

One last point. I hear the derogatory term used by ICE officials and others, "illegal aliens." Immigrants without documents are not "aliens." They are human beings, made of flesh and blood. Are they considered by some to be "aliens" because they speak Spanish instead of English? I thought American society wanted to include people with differing language skills. Consider Switzerland where most educated people speak fluent German, Italian, French and English. We send our children to school to learn a foreign language, such as Spanish, then we consider those who actually are fluent in Spanish to be "aliens?" Furthermore we hear people call immigrants "illegal." Unless you are a lawyer or a judge, I suggest that we drop this term. How does a person know that some other person is "illegal?" "Legality" is a matter for courts and for lawyers, not for non-legally trained persons to judge.