immigrants

In Bush's War on Terror, Immigrants Are Both Soldiers and Targets

By Roberto Lovato

New America Media, Posted on January 30, 2007

http://www.alternet.org/story/47338/

Just three hours before President Bush delivered his State of the Union
speech, my nephew, Eric, a former undocumented Salvadoran immigrant who is
now stationed with the National Guard near the Afghan-Pakistani border,
wrote me an email in Spanish. "A suicide bomber blew himself up at our front
gate this morning. Ten people were killed, 15 wounded. I volunteered and
helped pick up the dead and human remains. Esta bien feo esto (this is
really ugly)."

I thought of Eric as I listened to President Bush trying to rally the
country around his "new strategy" with words like, "The war on terror we
fight today is a generational struggle that will continue long after you and
I have turned our duties over to others."

Eric was born a child of war. I recall him as a boy in tattered jeans
playing with toy guns while slightly older teenagers played out the latest
insurgent and counterinsurgent military strategies in the jungles and
mountains outside his hamlet. In an earlier phone call, Eric compared their
struggle to the war he's now fighting. "The Taliban and Al Qaeda fight like
the FMLN (the former guerillas in El Salvador). They strike for a time and
then you don't see them for a long time until the next attack. It heats up
and then it cools off." I've interviewed top strategists at West
Point -those who now guide Eric and other soldiers in the "new strategy"
confirm Eric's insight.

When Bush tells us he will continue to prepare the country for what was
going to be a "long war" -remember how the invasion of Afghanistan was first
called "Operation Infinite Justice" before being renamed "Operation Enduring
Freedom"? I worry about Eric's son, who is not doing so well in his
elementary school.

Little Juan plays with toy guns and goes to a poorly-funded public school
whose administrators are required to give military recruiters students'
names, phone numbers and other personal information under the No Child Left
Behind Act requirements.

In his speech, Bush framed comprehensive immigration reform as a national
security issue, one requiring policies that leave "border agents free to
chase down drug smugglers and criminals and terrorists." If the "war on
terror" lasts as long as Bush said it will, his message tells immigrant
families like ours that the war on immigration will also last for
generations to come.

When I mentioned to Eric that Bush would be talking about immigration during
the speech, he told me, "I don't like to talk about politics, Tío." After I
told him I understood, he did, however, tell me, "They (the National Guard)
asked me if I want to go protect the border after I get back." "What do you
think? You gonna do it?" I asked. He remained silent, as if weighing his
words for an audience larger than just me.

We went on to talk about bringing back beautiful Afghan rugs for my folks'
anniversary and going to dance salsa when he next visits me in New York.
From the sound of his voice, he seemed to be struggling to come to grips
with how war has shaped his short life in so many different ways. "You know
what?" he confided as we said our "hasta pronto" goodbyes, "there's no way
I'm going to the (U.S.-Mexico) border."

Before I could ask him if it had anything to do with Bush, immigration, the
war and the like, he said, "All that's political bullshit."

Roberto Lovato is a contributing editor to New America Media.