How would you feel if someone told your daughters they hate black people?
If that hurts, imagine how 18-year-old Jessica Bravo must have felt, when during a during an advocacy meeting on immigration reform in Washington, D.C. with California Representative Dana Rohrabacher, she claims he told her, he hates “illegals.”
Bravo is one of millions of ‘Dreamers’ in the U.S. looking for a chance to become a legal resident in a country she grew up in since age 3 and loves. She had met with Rohrabacher, her district congressman, to urge him to support giving undocumented immigrants a chance to legalize.
Rohrabacher, as you know, is known for holding hard-line positions on immigration, and is firmly opposing immigration reform that would help undocumented immigrants.
So it’s not surprising that Rohrabacher allegedly got nasty as soon as he found out the teen is undocumented.
“The moment I said that word [undocumented], it just completely changed the mood of the room,” The Hill quoted Bravo as saying in an interview. “He kept interrupting me and he was just, like, ‘Oh, you know, I love Mexicans, but I hate illegals.’ He was just yelling at us and pointing fingers. I couldn’t even talk anymore because I was crying.”
However, while the congressman’s spokeswoman said Bravo’s version of what transpired at the meeting is not true, I still think Jessica Bravo deserves an apology.
She like millions caught up in the trap of illegal immigration in this country deserve to know they can have a chance to be free and not be targeted with hate and abuse by a public official for simply being undocumented.
It is another reason why Mr. President, you cannot back off making immigration reform a top priority, despite what the GOP folks like Rep. Robert Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, says.
Regardless what Goodlatte claims, this is “an ethnic issue and racial issue.” If the majority of undocumented migrants were not people of color we would already have a pathway to citizenship. Look at the history of immigration in this country and you will see that Ireland, Italy, and Germany were the three countries most represented at Ellis Island. They all came through looking for a better life and found it along with a pathway to citizenship. Why should Latinos, Africans and Caribbeans any different in 2013 when they are making such significant contributions to this country – both as legal residents and as undocumented immigrants?.
Respectfully,
Felicia Persaud
The writer is founder of NewsAmericasNow, CaribPR Wire and Hard Beat Communications.
