Don’t Make Me Go Through the US to Get Home
Opinion
Some things I left behind back home in Mexico City include my wall plug converter that I use at airports, my grandad’s altimeter that he used as a scout, and a green jacket for my 20th birthday. Mostly important? I left behind people, those who ask me now: ‘Are you ever coming back?’
Yes, I want to, and I will go back. But even when I think of my most fond memories of home, a blanket of anti-migrant sentiment makes itself present. Almost every time I call home, the topic of America pops up but is quickly glanced over as an exageración (exaggeration) by my mum. But I would be despistado (absent-minded) if I chose to put on rainbow-tinted glasses for the next time I set foot in an American airport.
Auckland Airport might have a lot of destinations, but Mexico City isn’t one of them. I am obligated to transit through the United States, a country that does not shy about racial and sexual profiling in their ports of entry.
And while I might fear a stopover in the US, the fear of racial profiling is worse for those hermanas and hermanos that call the US home.
Art / Luka Maresca
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have ripped Latinos apart from the place that had been promised them refuge of violence, a place of opportunity. Last month, ICE agents arrested the most people they ever have in at least five years. Agents arrested around 30,000 immigrants last month, according to ICE data. And this isn’t even the amount President Donald Trump promised, when he vowed to deport “millions and millions” on his Inauguration Day.
And in California, the evidence is mounting that Latinos are being targeted and racially profiled.
Reports say ICE has raided known hubs for Latino workers almost daily, including parking lots, car washes, street vendor corners, and hardware stores. Videos have surfaced online of agents arresting people who appear to be Latino simply standing on sidewalks or waiting at bus stops.
There is so much I want to go home to. Mexico City is an urban ecosystem with 9.2 million people living in an area the size of Taranaki, and some 22 million people total at given time of the day. Being the most populous city in all of North America is not an easy task. I often extraño (miss) the supermarkets, five times the size of a Woolworths. I miss the chips flavours like lime, extra chilli, or cheese fish that I have yet to find anywhere around Aotearoa.
No matter how much I miss, the fear of the US customs haunts me. And while it’s possible that I could pass through the US like normal, I won’t forget those whose very existence is being questioned by corrupt politicians seeking to benefit from hate.
Still, they cannot take away my home.