By Jorge Lopez
Guest Column
This is an open letter to our elected representatives with a two-pronged request: to return Pascual Pedro-Pedro of West Liberty to his family in the United States and to ask Congress to work on revising our immigration policy.
I plead with you now on behalf of Pascual to help him get back home. He was deported unjustly July 7. Please consider his case and help return him to his family and community in this country. Pascual Pedro-Pedro arrived in the U.S. at age 13, graduated from high school, played soccer at school, was active in church and employed full-time when he reported for his check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He was detained when he presented himself as required to do yearly.
Pascual followed the rules provided by our government. He was law-abiding. Yet he was deported anyway. What signal are we giving to those who follow the law but have entered this country outside of the normal channels, looking for a better life?
I believe those ICE agents would say that they were merely following the law. If so, then we need to reevaluate this law. Is it just? Did following the law in this specific case make the U.S. a safer place? Did it help the community? Did it help our shrinking workforce? I maintain not.
I ask those in Congress to reach across the aisle and work together to modify the law. A just immigration policy needs to take into consideration the messiness of human life; those situations that don’t fit into neat boxes. We must believe that every person coming to this country outside the normal channels is not here for nefarious reasons.
Some have said that we cannot have immigrants “jump the line” to citizenship. I agree that could be a perception. Perhaps a solution could be to create a new status where they start to regularize their entry into this country. A status that would maintain their safety and guarantee no deportation if they follow the rules. This category could come with a three-year trial period with extra scrutiny. The immigrant would be fingerprinted and would be required to report to the ICE office every four months during this period instead of yearly.
I am a U.S. citizen. When I began work at a new company, I had a trial period. When I started working as a substitute teacher, I was fingerprinted and had a background check. These were not hardships. I believe the immigrant looking for a better life would comply. The true criminals would not because they would not pass the regular scrutiny.
During the regular check-ins, the ICE agent would take advantage of technology to ascertain that the immigrant was in good standing. If something unusual came up, the immigrant could have legal representation before being deported, to rule out errors in the reporting or the evaluation of their case.
An added benefit of all this is that the immigrant could also report to ICE agents if they were abused by their employer or threatened by someone in their neighborhood. This would ensure a safer community for all. In addition, such a status would protect an employer from hiring an undocumented immigrant.
After the trial period, if there were no irregularities, the immigrant would be put at the end of the line to get a green card (not citizenship yet). This would remove the perception of jumping any line. They had an extra three-year wait!
Of course, this is only one thought. Perhaps Congress can come up with a better solution. The challenges surrounding immigration and the process of obtaining legal status have long been pressing issues in our country. I humbly ask for meaningful progress in resolving these matters.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts on this important topic.
(Jorge Lopez, a deacon candidate for the Diocese of Davenport, lives in North Liberty and is a member of St. Thomas More Parish, Coralville.)
Editor’s note: A bi-partisan bill, H.R.4393 — To secure the border and reform the immigration laws — has been introduced.
