The (Columbus) Republic
Immigration is a federal issue, but it’s also a local one in communities throughout the United States. The Republic’s Andy East brought home that reality in a story last Saturday, documenting that from January 2015 to May 2023, 599 unaccompanied minor children, mostly from Guatemala, were sent to live with sponsors in Bartholomew, Jackson and Jennings counties, according to federal records.
Of that number, 509 children were sent to live with sponsors in Seymour and Jackson County, 84 were released to sponsors in and around Bartholomew County, and six to sponsors in Jennings County.
This red-hot hot-button political issue can easily distort a simple reality: These are children who have risked everything to come here in search of a better life.
Imagine you were a child or their parent, faced with crushing poverty and the ever-present threat of gang violence. Imagine walking a mile in those shoes. Would you walk toward something better?
“It’s usually a decision made to escape (something),” Ashley Caceres told East. Caceres is executive director of Su Casa Indiana, a nonprofit that serves Latino immigrants and has offices in Columbus and Seymour.
“A lot of it has to do with the natural disasters that happened a couple years ago in Central America, as well as dangers around violence and discrimination,” she said.
Most of those who are sponsoring these young immigrants are parents or family members, but not in all cases. Sponsors are vetted, and as East wrote, many of these children are following in the footsteps of Guatemalans who started arriving in Jackson County at least a couple of decades ago, attracted to the lower cost of living and job opportunities in manufacturing, agriculture and construction.
“Something that I think is very beautiful about the Guatemalan community is that they’re very tight knit, because they usually come from the same state or the same town or the same county,” Caceres said. “… And so, everybody is considered a family member, even if they’re not blood-related.”
Another reality: This story of community migration is the story of America. We are a nation of immigrants. That is the core of our national identity, though our identity and our history are not without struggle, strife, discrimination and worse.
What we have lacked for decades now is thoughtful and productive leadership on the issue of immigration. But we also sometimes distressingly lack the insight to yet another reality, and it is this:
For all of the fussing, feuding and sometimes fighting that we Americans get up to around the issue of immigration (and others), we remain the promised land for so many people who seek the blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If you ever doubt this country’s greatness, go to a naturalization ceremony sometime. You can’t help feeling the reality of the joy, pride and tears of new Americans taking their oaths as citizens.
We need leaders of all parties in Washington to stop playing political football and work out an immigration policy that secures our southern border and reduces the chaos we have seen in recent years.
But we also need to reaffirm to ourselves that the reason we are a great nation is because of immigrants, not in spite of them.
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