Open Letter

Dear people of Arizona,

            During this semester I learned a lot about migration that I was unaware of. For me, the most insightful videos and articles are concerned with the risk and rewards migrants are willing to take in search of a better life. According to the video Modern Heros, Modern Slaves approximately 4-6 dead bodies a day come back to the Philippines in wooden boxes. These are the bodies of migrant women who have worked abroad so that their families could have more money. Unfortunately, the conditions that the women are working in are typically unpleasant and the expense of providing a better life for one’s family is one’s own life.

            Nearly one person a day will die while attempting to cross the Mexico/ United States border. Once he/she crosses the border there is also the threat of stumbling upon hostile vigilante groups who prowl the border at night searching for illegal individuals who they can use violence against as a means to deter illegal Mexican immigrants from coming to the U.S. In some cases, people pay a chayote to help them cross the border, but if they don’t have enough money to pay the fee up front, they will have a debt with the Chayote and may be forced into a physically demanding job with low wages until they have paid off their balance due. This also happens in places like China. Sometimes individuals have to work for many years in sweat shop conditions to pay off their liabilities to those who helped them get into the United States.

            It is important to remember that it is not only adults who are trying to cross the border. When I attended a panel discussion on campus called “Metropolitan Borderlands: Migrant Justice in Phoenix”, I learned that children as young as eight from Central America attempt to cross the border. In most cases they are trying to reunify with their parents who left them behind during civil wars.

            Based on what I learned, I believe that the United States as well as other countries in the world should somehow reform their immigration policies to protect people who wish to work abroad from the abuse and exploitation that is all too common today.