No matter what tragedies have happened, whether domestically or around the world, I’ve always been taught to be tolerant of other races and religions. I’ve also been taught not to attribute the actions of a select few to the collective of whatever group or organization of which they happened to be a part. But in response to the events of the past week, the slew of Islamaphobic rhetoric among some has been eerily reminiscent of 9/11, which could mean bad news for the upcoming vote on the immigration reform bill.
Although Congress isn’t slated to vote on the bill until June, the backgrounds of the two suspects are already proving to be a scapegoat for denying 11 million undocumented immigrants the opportunity to be legal residents of the United States. Many politicians, including U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and President Obama, are urging that no one jump to conclusions based on the recent events in Boston, and hope that people will not associate those events with the immigration legislation.
In the wake of such a tragedy, it’s easy to make erratic assumptions based on fear. The frenzy of media coverage lately has painted a picture of the suspects that all but attributed their actions to the politically unstable region where they were born, as well as their religious affiliations — one of of the suspects was confirmed to be Muslim. The suspects are both ethnic Chechens who came to the United States from Russia about a decade ago as refugees and were granted asylum. One of them was a legal permanent resident, and one became a citizen about a year and a half ago.
Based on that logic, we shouldn’t allow anyone to become a naturalized citizen of the United States, simply because they could be a terrorist, and we should revoke the rights of anyone currently living in this country, for whatever reason, who was not born here. What people don’t realize is that as a country, we’re safer when the government knows who is here, has their photographs, fingerprints and personal records. Access to that isn’t easy when immigrants are living off the grid, in constant fear of getting deported.
When something of this magnitude occurs, whether you’re directly affected by it or not, it’s hard to just stand back and watch it all unfold without taking it to heart and allowing it to influence your stance on important issues. It is important that no matter how scared or shaken you are, you do not allow ignorant statements to mold your beliefs on this matter, such as that of Representative Louie Gohmert’s (R-Texas), who claimed that “al Qaeda has camps on the Mexican border” where “people are now being trained to come in and act like Hispanic, when they are radical Islamists.”
It’s morally reprehensible that some people in positions of power and authority are using this tragedy to further their own anti-immigration reform agendas. The actions of a few individuals, regardless of the consequences yielded by those actions, should not be the factor that decides the legalization status of 11 million immigrants.