Guyanese Online

Interfaith Council of New York Calls for Mutual Tolerance

Dr. Dhanpaul Narine

By Dr. Dhanpaul Narine

The answer to immigration is that there is no answer. The undocumented in the United States is neither here nor there. He or she is caught in a limbo from which there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The latest figures suggest that around 80,000 immigrants have put their cases to the Department of Homeland Security, since 2012, through a procedure that is known as ‘administrative closure.’ This means that they are not forced to leave the US but they are not legally allowed to remain. Who wants to live this way?

As one immigrant in Queens says, ‘no society should treat people like that. We have lived here for over 20 years and have been law-abiding. Our children are in schools and we work and contribute to the country. All we want is to come out from the shadows.’ There is no guarantee that this will happen anytime soon.   

President Obama was the best hope that the undocumented had if their status were ever going to be regularized. But he did precious little, despite the lofty rhetoric.
While the undocumented wait the fear increases as the Department of Homeland Security has the personal information of those in the administrative closure cases
and anything can happen.

[Read more: Interfaith Council of New York Calls for Mutual Tolerance]