There’s a word I don’t see often: “diaspora.” One meaning of the word derived from the Greek wordsdiaspeirein to scatter, from dia- +speirein to sow, is the movement, migration, or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland. Isn’t that what is happening on our southern border which gives immigration a bad name? Over the last 30 or so years, the U.S. has experienced a huge displacement of people from Latin America. The first Amnesty Bill signed by President Reagan legalized the status of 6 to 8 million people here illegally. Drawn by our liberty, religious freedom, and jobs and higher wages, 12 to 20 million have arrived in this country from the south. The vast number are from Mexico with a lesser number coming from Central America.
Efforts to secure the border with fences and border patrol agents and deportations have not stemmed the flow. No other country allows its borders to act as a sieve. Some say that the priority in dealing with illegal immigration is a secure border first, then some solution for the immigrants already part of our society. Others, encourage the movement into the country thinking it will redound to their political power or corporate financial power.
One thing is certain. The majority of Americans will not support wholesale deportation of those here illegally and not U.S. citizens. No amount of speechifying will convince American citizens that you can rip 12 to 20 million people from their homes and be better off.
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