Why has the immigrant status of Ivan Aguilar-Cano's parents become the rage on internet message boards? Rosa Cano went to Chicago on Monday, July 15th with her boyfriend and 20 year old son to seek Guatemalan passports. She wants to accompany her murdered son's body to Guatemala then return to the U.S..
Rosa expects to get those passports in the mail, yet has to wait for word from the Federal Governmentm if they will let her back in the U.S. after the burial in Guatemala. She says she won't go without that assurance.
In my conversation with Ivan's family last week, Rosalina Cano told me she filed for political asylum 11 years ago. As it turns out, that's the same year a judge in Los Angeles issued an order to deport her.
Rosa has four surviving children, her 20 year old son who also went to that Chicago meeting, and two daughters and a son in Guatemala.
I read comments left on my blogs, on WHAS11.com and on the Courier-Journal website. Regardless of what element of the murder investigation is at issue, all three forums seem to have been overtaken with people upset that Ivan's mother is an illegal immigrant.
I guess her legal status became germane when it was suggested that it is understandable that Rosa had let Ivan wander in their neighborhood because that is common in her native Guatemala. Apparantly, any adult is treated with the respect owed a parent - and every adult in Guatemala accepts that responsibility.
In my conversations these past couple of weeks with people close to this tragedy, I have not heard anyone defend that practice, instead suggesting that Rosa either did not know any better or was so overwhelmed with working two jobs that she did not have the time or knowledge to figure out how best to monitor her child.
There are Catch 22's with the illegal immigrant issue:
* they are chastised for not doing more to be responsible "citizens," yet they are not eligible for the kinds of government help from which they would benefit the most.
* They are targeted for taking "American jobs" but "Americans" are not willing to work many of the jobs filled by undocumented workers.
In fact, a good segment of the American economy is predicated on the cheap labor in tough jobs provided by these workers.
It's an issue of heated debate in Washington and sparking some pointed comments here. I just hope we don't lose sight of the tragedy of this little boy's death.
Ah, the liberal copout of calling anyone who tells it like is a xenophobe! If I were a xenophobe I would not have bothered to learn to speak Spanish fluently, travel throughout Latin America/Spain and I would not be in the line of work I'm in. As I said before, I have had many years of experience working with the Hispanic community, both as an interpreter and in a social service capacity. Those who wish to be Americans learn to speak English and adapt to American culture. I see the strain that illegal immigration causes on our school and health-care systems every day, and you can't ignore the fact that it poses serious problems that our country needs to work out. I also meet many wonderful Hispanic people who do the right things and are an asset to our society. Other Spanish speakers that I work with and are my friends don't like illegal immigration either because some of them paid a lot of money and did a lot of paperwork to come here and obtain employment legally, and they don't think it's fair that others get by without doing so. I have no problem with anyone who immigrates to the the US as long as they do it by legal means. I am far from a mind reader but at least I am honest enough to speak my own mind and engage in a discussion with those who have different views like yourself, without assaulting their character. It's a free country and those ACLU dues that you probably pay protect my right to free speech as much as they do yours.
Mary
Just who appointed you the official national mind reader? how dare you speak for this family, when you assert that they do not wish to become americans but rather send money back?
That and your irresponsible shift to the social drain, are nothing other than your xenophobic infirmity coming through your keyboard. May God have mercy on your soul and learn how to make the world and may you learn to live in a better place rather than harboring such feelings for people from a different country origin than yours.
Pardon me, Joe, but I don't think that there is anyone in Louisville that is not heartbroken over this little boy's death. I am saddened by thoughts of what he endured at the hands of a predator who was given free access to him by his lazy, careless and thoughtless mother. I am saddened by the fact that my husband and I cannot have children and that there are children out there whose mothers do not care enough about them to protect them, too stupid and ignorant to recognize how fortunate they are to have been so blessed with a child of their own.
Also, I have had considerable experience working with the Hispanic community. Let me tell you, this Mother knows a lot more English than she lets on, and the "letting your children roam" copout is just an excuse for her poor performance as a parent.
I do not believe that she or her family should be allowed to stay in this country. They have already shown blatant disregard for our laws and culture by failing to assilimlate, and will do nothing but breed more feral children and drain our social services (like police resources). They have no intentions of becoming Americans, only of using our resources and making money to send back home to another country. Although I have compassion for their plight, America must take care of her own first.
In regards to your comment about people losing sight of the tragedy, once again, I don't think that's the case but many people like myself are extrememly upset and American citizens' anger is raw over the immigration debate because the government we have elected to represent our interests and enforce our laws is doing neither, at our expense. They would rather feather their big-business buddies' nests with an endless supply of cheap labor. Last year a division of my husband's company in another state was temporarily shut down because they "laid off" an American worker, and then hired five mexicans in his place, but were only paying/ documenting one on the books, who would then split the money with his other four buddies on payday. several other relatives have lost jobs outsourced to India. It's not that they are filling jobs that Americans don't want, it's that greedy corporations don't want to pay us a living wage. The average American middle-class worker is getting screwed and we know it. But it doesn't mean that we feel any less sorrow for this poor child or see him as any less human.