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Anne Ferrara of Brooksville is a retired professor at New York State University. She is on the program team of Reversing Falls Sanctuary and a member of Pax Christi.
I am a former English-as-a-second language teacher. For many years, I had the privilege of teaching immigrants from all over the world, but primarily from Central and South America. Where I lived on Long Island, New York, during the 1980s and 1990s, we had more than 100,000 immigrants from Central America working in the many factories located on the island. I got to hear their stories and share their lives; what an education I received!
I heard stories of torture, of violence, of hunger, of fear. The civil wars occurring during those decades in El Salvador and Guatemala were brutal. Trying to understand the nature of those wars, I had to learn very disturbing history about my country and our complicity in those wars, in that unspeakable violence, in those horrific acts of torture. I had to learn about the School of the Americas where we trained the military leaders of Central America — those leaders who returned to their countries to carry out atrocities that they had been taught here, by our military.
Understanding why people risk life and limb to leave their home countries is essential to grasping the reason for the influx of migrants into our country today. Like my ancestors who fled Ireland and Scotland, today’s migrants are desperate.
The truth is we are a nation of immigrants (Indigenous Nations being the exception). And like all those before them, today’s migrants are essential to the well-being of our country. They plant and harvest our vegetables, replace our roofs, care for our sick and elderly in hospitals and nursing homes, do landscaping, build bridges, keep restaurants and hotels running, and so many more essential tasks.
What I learned about my students was that they were the hardest working people I ever met. Most had at least two jobs, shared housing with 10 to 12 others, came to school (some in the day, some in the evening) ready and willing to learn English and sent money home to their families. They were the most respectful students I had ever taught, and their family values were a thing of beauty. At the end of each semester, I thanked them for making our country a better place, for modeling good citizenship and for teaching us Americans the value of sacrifice.
When I hear politicians speaking so disparagingly about our immigrants, I want to cry. I also want to beg them, and beg all who may not have direct contact with our immigrant community, to learn why so many are fleeing their home countries. Listen to the Honduran coffee farmer whose family is starving because climate change has destroyed his land. Listen to the young man from El Salvador who has no opportunity for school or work and lives in constant fear of his lawless government. Listen to the mother from Haiti who has been brutalized by violent neighbors and watched her baby die of malnutrition. Listen, listen, listen.
Hopefully, what you learn will open your hearts and your home to “welcome the stranger,” as Jesus taught.
It is ironic that half our nation — composed of immigrants — is now anti-immigrant. It is shameful that our current immigrants are not given the same chance provided to our own forebears who contributed so much to building this country. The narrative must be corrected to reflect the reality — immigrants are not engaging in violence at a greater rate than Americans. Millions of immigrants are not coming from mental asylums and prisons. These grotesque, made-up stories coming out of the mouths of men who want to lead our country are lies, have no basis in fact and are endangering the lives of our new residents, most of whom are fleeing from violence in their home countries.
Please do the research. Find out what is driving migration. Find out how you can be part of the solution, how you can heal the wounds of broken humanity rather than inflicting deeper ones and not be indifferent to our suffering sisters and brothers.
