An immigrant dies every day trying to come into the United States in pursuit of the “American Dream.” The Webb County medical examiner places her identification rate on non-skeletal remains at 65-70%, but one particular body found last month remains unidentified.
The unknown immigrant was wearing earrings and a ring on the middle finger of her left hand. She wore pink sneakers and a Gold’s Gym T-shirt. In her pocket was a photograph of a little boy who looks to be about 5 years old. DNA samples will be taken on the hope that family members will trip across the information. Then, the unknown immigrant will probably be buried in an unmarked grave.
Few in the U.S. who discuss immigration, include the centuries of our own exploitation of the nations south of us that precede our current problems. A militarized border allows us to destabilize the nations and economies south of us without any consequence to ourselves.
For some, our militarized border protects the American way of life, but for the countless unknown immigrants who die trying to cross it, our border is a field of broken dreams. Can any nation claim greatness that does not have principles larger than it’s own boundaries?