Not long
ago, at the end of an exhausting flight from Europe, hundreds
of us tired travelers were waiting the almost two hours it took
for the inspection of passports, photos and fingerprints. An immigration
official, annoyed by the chatter of the newly arrived and the
rumpus of the children, emerged from his cubicle, blew his police
whistle stridently and, after the crowd quieted, shouted angrily:
``Shut up and stay in line, or I'll have you all arrested!''
An Italian
woman standing next to me said softly, almost in fear: ``My God,
this reminds me of the Soviet Union.''
Of course,
the United States is not at all like the USSR, and certainly that
outburst from the immigration official was an exception, not the
rule. But it is possible that the Department of Homeland Security,
created after 9/11, is unwittingly giving the country a raw, barracks-like
tone that is absolutely contrary to the nation's tradition of
hospitality and contrary to the courtesy of a society that on
the streets smiles amiably at anyone. The latter comes as a pleasant
surprise to most foreigners, who are used to avoiding the gaze
of people they don't know.
Something
more serious is at stake, however. That official brusqueness sometimes
transcends the formal domestic aspects and affects -- very seriously
and negatively --international relations.
Right now,
for instance, the powerful Department of Homeland Security is
pressuring the White House to cancel the temporary permits that
grant legal residence to hundreds of thousands of Central Americans
under Temporary Protected Status instituted in 1998 and 2001.
Since then, those permits have been renewed periodically as a
way to help countries that are hit by devastating hurricanes,
earthquakes and other natural disasters.
How meaningful
are the efforts of the State Department to strengthen the economy
of Central America and stabilize its fragile democratic institutions
through CAFTA, the free-trade agreement, while another branch
of government asks for the United States to expel people who are
generally hardworking and law abiding? These are people who, via
remittances, help feed and clothe the families they left behind.
It so happens that the nations affected by that measure are precisely
some of the best allies of the United States in the region: El
Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras.
TPS
for Central Americans
El Salvador
even maintains a military contingent in Iraq, not so much because
it is certain that that is a just and necessary war but because
of its conviction that that is the way to help the American people
in a conflict that is becoming increasingly unpopular. Also because,
in the midst of the Cold War, Washington kept the small Central
American country from falling into the hands of the communist
guerrillas during the bloody battles of the 1980s.
Besides the
diplomatic considerations, there are the powerful arguments raised
by common sense. Those hundreds of thousands of Central Americans
-- many of whom live in South Florida, a region with less than
4 percent unemployment; people who work basically in construction
and agriculture, who pay taxes and give both industries a spectacular
boost -- are not going to return to their countries of origin
in a disciplined and gentle manner. They're going to move to other
cities to swell the ranks of undocumented workers who barely contribute
to the general welfare of the nation because they have to live
clandestinely, often exposed to violence and crime.
Usually,
the immigration problem that afflicts prosperous democracies worldwide
has two fundamental aspects: first, how to prevent the entry of
illegal immigrants; second, how to regulate and integrate the
immigrants who already live in the country.
If the U.S.
government is foolish enough to delegalize those hundreds of thousands
of Central Americans, many of whose children speak English and
feel that they are yanquis through and through, it will harm the
immigrants, the countries they come from and the United States.
It's like
a parody of Dale Carnegie's famous bestseller: How to lose friends
and stop influencing nations.
