A little captive in the “Land of the Free”

Gigot, Jean-Claude

Sui Sin Far

January 27, 2011

““But,” [ ] “he is my son.”

“We have no proof,” answered the man with a shrug of his shoulders; “and even if so we cannot let him pass without orders from the Government.”” ("The Land of Free", Mrs. Spring Fragrance by Sui Sin Far)

“There is no reason a child should suffer the trauma of being separated from a parent or end up in the child welfare system when there are tangible solutions to prevent that from happening. This report acknowledges the urgent need for DHS to implement policies for responsible immigration enforcement that protects child well-being and family unity.” said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus (a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization) in an article titled “New Report Highlights Impact of Immigration Enforcement on the Child Welfare System”, published in April 7, 2010 on firstfocus.net.

Everything in Hom Hing, his attitude and responses to the Us Custom officers, his overwhelming joy to be reunited with his family and to see and touch “Little One” for the first time, show the spontaneity of a simple and authentic man. There is no worry to have for him: he is not illegal in the country. He is, as he put it himself, “a Chinese merchant [who had] been in business in San Francisco [where he lives with his wife] for many years”. A man with integrity and a hard worker...this is the type of men the Nation is made of, and looks for.

More than 24 months ago, Lae Choo, his wife has accepted to go back to China so that, their son could be born in their motherland. Now she is back to the United States with “Little One”, a 2 years-old. But there is one problem: if Lae Choo his mother is legal and so could re-enter in the country, Little One is not. He is undocumented. Literally, he has no right to live in the United Stated.

“Thus was the law of the land complied with.” The law is the law, seems to say the US custom officers. They have to do their job. They could see and feel how genuine is the bond between mother and son, and between husband and wife. But, they have to do their job.

At the end, a child will be traumatized by being separated for 10 months from his mother, when placed by the system in a mission nursery. A parent will be thorn by pain...

What happened more than 110 years ago is still going on today. Of course, the “Land of the Free” has his law and rules. Should one continue blaming the so-called-cold “system” and stay imperfect humans writing inhuman law? Not for the sake of the children and the next generations.