Posted on 07/11/2014 5:22:27 PM PDT by kristinn
I write this from the city of McAllen, which sits in the Rio Grande Valley near the border, just across from the Mexican city of Reynosa. In the last 24 hours I realize that, for an undocumented immigrant like me, getting out of a border town in Texas—by plane or by land—won’t be easy. It might, in fact, be impossible.
I flew into the valley Thursday morning to visit a shelter for unaccompanied Central American refugees and participate in a vigil in their honor. Outraged at the media coverage of this humanitarian crisis (these children are not “illegal,” as news organizations like CBS News and the New York Times call them), and frustrated by the political ping-pong centered on border security and increased enforcement, I also came here to share my own story of coming to the United States as an unaccompanied minor from the Philippines. I wanted to help change the narrative of the conversation and, with a camera crew, share stories from the shelter and its volunteers. The visit to the shelter was intense and sobering, watching small kids fight for their lives with nothing more than their spirits.
When my friend Mony Ruiz-Velasco, an immigration lawyer who used to work in the area, saw on my Facebook page that I was in McAllen, she texted me: “I am so glad you are visiting the kids near the border. But how will you get through the checkpoint on your way back?” A curious question, I thought, and one I dismissed. I’ve visited the border before, in California. What checkpoint? What was she talking about?
Then Tania Chavez, an undocumented youth leader from the Minority Affairs Council, one of the organizers of the vigil, asked me the same question: “How will you get out of here?” Tania grew up in this border town. As the day wore on, as the reality of my predicament sunk in, Tania spelled it out for me: You might not get through airport security, where Customs and Border Protection (CPB) also checks for IDs, and you will definitely not get through the immigration checkpoints set up within 45 miles of this border town. At these checkpoints, you will be asked for documentation. (“Even if you tell them you’re a U.S. citizen, they will ask you follow-up questions if they don’t believe you,” Tania told me.)
SNIP
Of course, I can only travel within the United States and, for identification, when I fly I use a valid passport that was issued by my native country, the Philippines. But each flight is a gamble. My passport lacks a visa. If TSA agents discover this, they can contact CBP, which, in turn, can detain me.
SNIP
As Tania and I sat together in a circle holding unlit candles, a crowd of about 30 people—mostly undocumented youth, a few citizen allies—started chanting something in Spanish, a language I don’t speak. Her head on my shoulder, with tears in our eyes, she translated the chant for me:
“No me digas illegal”/Don’t call me illegal
“Porque eso no lo soy”/Because I am not
“llegal son sus leyes”/Illegal are your laws
“Y por eso no me voy”/And that’s why I’m not leaving
Oh an undocumented criminal...
“No me digas illegal”/Don’t call me illegal
“Porque eso no lo soy”/Because I am not
“llegal son sus leyes”/Illegal are your laws
“Y por eso no me voy”/And that’s why I’m not leaving
“I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a disgrace, that two become a lawfirm, and that three or more become a congress.”
- John Adams
unaccompanied Central American refugees = Illegal aliens
They ought to deport this guy as an example. He is flaunting it in everyone’s face.
“No me digas illegal”/Don’t call me illegal
“Porque eso no lo soy”/Because I am not
“llegal son sus leyes”/Illegal are your laws
“Y por eso no me voy”/And that’s why I’m not leaving
________________________________________
Oh that’s OK illegal alien kid..
just for you we can use Mexican immigration law...
oh cry me a freaking river. Came as a child and now is a very full-fledged adult and still - still - hasn't applied for citizenship (or, I doubt, filed taxes). So, fine, my Flip friend, keep your Filipino citizenship, but if that is so very valuable to you above all, if dual citizenship isn't enough for you, if swearing an allegience to the US of A turns your stomach, then why are you still sucking on America's teet?
You gotta be freeping kidding me.
That's right - and it's our country, too.
So get the hell out.
They break our laws by coming here illegally and then tell us our laws are illegal? WOW Not only that they put that in a catchy little poem and teach it to new arrivals as soon as they get across. Have to teach them to be pushy and demanding and to put us down right off the bat.
They break our laws by coming here illegally and then tell us our laws are illegal? WOW Not only that they put that in a catchy little poem and teach it to new arrivals as soon as they get across. Have to teach them to be pushy and demanding and to put us down right off the bat.
Not believing a word of this dribble.
Deport his illegal alien ass.
I have a better chant in Spanish. It has a nice sing-songy up and down beat.
“Inmigrantes iligales,
Son ladrones criminales.”
(Immigrants without papers are criminal thieves.)
You can also say “invasores” (invaders) instead of inmigrantes.
I like yours better!
So shaddup and go back to Europe, whitey!
How about “brown racists” or “Reconquistadores”, although that may just apply to the Mexicans.
Where’s Whorealdo?
Good find and posting, kristinn.
How is this illegal able to fly on a passport without a visa and travel with his camera crew in tow?
He should be shipped back to the Philippines, after fines and time behind bars. ...I’m tired of seeing all these illegals like him just flaunting their status and daring the US to enforce the existing laws. ...We know, of course, that Obama, Holder and the Homeland Security people wont do a damned thing.
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