HispanicVista Columnists
In Time of War, Immigrants Face Two Fronts
By Robert Miranda
The price our Latino men and women are paying for freedom in Iraq is high. In fact, Latinos are leading all other ethnic minorities in the total number of dead, according to the latest data provided by the Department of Defense.
As of the end of November 2005, Latinos in the United States Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy fighting the war in Iraq accounted for11.13% of all deaths.
According to the Website, Iraqi Coalition Casualty Count, the total number of Latinos killed in the war is now 235. Of those 235 Latino dead, 138 Latinos were killed serving in the Army; 90 in the Marines; 3 in the Air Force and 1 Latino serving in the Navy.
African-Americans are second in the minority death count. As of November 2005, 219 (10.37%) African-Americans have died fighting the war in Iraq. Over half of them died while serving their tour in the Army.
In total, America’s ethnic minority communities combined have lost 26.39% armed forces personnel during this war, while whites have lost 73.61%.
As of this week, over 2100 U.S. service personnel have lost their lives fighting in the Iraq War.
Latinos are dying in Iraq. They’re dying so that, as Bush tells us, “Iraqis can live in freedom”. The price they’re paying to ensure victory for Bush’s war is being paid for with the blood of Latino immigrants who believe in freedom, and wish to live in freedom as well as spread that freedom to other parts of the world.
Yet, back at the home front, immigrants are being targeted by public policies designed to make their lives harder. Roll backs in public funding for education, health care needs and food stamps are placing many Latinos across the country in desperate living situations. Our civil rights and liberties are being challenged by draconian laws such as the Patriot Act.
The attacks coming from the far right-wing against immigrants, who have always been the backbone of this nation’s economy, comes at a time when America is demanding that we send our brothers and sisters and our mothers and fathers to fight a war built on lies and deception.
Latinos are ordered to go to war to fight an enemy many of them know little about, so that freedom can ring in an ancient nation that has for over 5000 years known little about peace, let alone freedom.
Latinos fight the “war against terrorism” and yet are called “wetbacks” by radio commentators and accused of engaging in massive voter fraud. Latinos have joined in the campaign to free Iraq from the grips of a “merciless dictator”, yet are looked upon as social leeches of our public resources by the very political forces that have called upon them to serve, fight and die.
They come from Mexico, Central and South America to take part in our free society and to contribute in any way they can to maintain our way of life. They come in the same manner as those Northern and Western European immigrants who arrived in the 1700s and1800s, before Ellis Island and the establishment of immigration laws such as the National Origins Act passed by Congress in 1924. This law eliminated immigration from Asia and sharply reduced immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe—an historic example of racism and discrimination.
Immigrants have fought our wars and joined in the cause for economic growth, civil liberty and global stability. They do this because they believe in our democracy.
And what is the manner in which they are repaid for their sacrifice? They are accused by right-wing extremists of violating our voting laws. Laws are introduced to take away their ability to have a license so that they can not drive to work. They’re seen as terrorists about to do harm to our county. And now, the National Council of La Raza just announced that House Republicans have introduced legislation to eliminate birthright citizenship to babies born to undocumented parents living in the U.S.
If this legislation passes, no longer would a baby born in the United States to an undocumented couple automatically obtain U.S. citizenship. This is horrendous racism at its most vicious manifestation.
It appears that the time will come, and come in our day, when work camps will be built to house the undocumented rounded up by our government. Those caught up in this dragnet will await their fate behind barbed wire fences—to be deported back to their native lands or granted permission to stay—and put to work under the watchful eyes of federal employees who once owned small family farms, but were forced out of business because of the encroachment of corporate mega-farms. And the public will be none the wiser to the insidiousness of this policy, because the right-wing and corporate America will promote the idea under the mantra: JOBS.
235 Latinos have given their lives to a cause that many are questioning. Their deaths symbolize Latino resolve to stand for an idea that is larger than Bush, the GOP or the Democrats. It’s not that they fight because of the misinformation passed onto them by their Commander-in-Chief; they stood for the cause of a free and civil society, and they stand for notions born out of thousands of years of human struggle for dignity.
Immigrants have stood shoulder to shoulder with their brothers-in-arms, because they believe in this nation’s principles of freedom, democracy and justice. The attacks against immigrants have done a disservice to those dreams they believe in—but still they believe.
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Robert Miranda, a frequent contributing columnist to HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/) is a national award winning columnist, Latino community activist and Editor-in-Chief of the Milwaukee Spanish Journal. Email at: rmiranda@wi.rr.com