ILLEGAL is NOT a NOUN!

A vast kaleidoscope of peoples struggle to get to the US shores everyday, and each one of them has a story. A reason, a goal, a dream, and more specifically The American Dream. Many quest for US citizenships not because of what is here, but for what is not. To not know Freedom, whether it be economic, personal, or any other form, is difficult to comprehend for those who've always had Freedom. And to know there is a place in the world that guarantees Freedom and not try to get there is suicide of the soul.

People of all kinds want opportunity. If there isn't opportunity, the people won't come. Mexican people, regardless of citizenship status, are under intense scrutiny right now. With times being as "tough" as they are, people are scared and unsure about their futures. Just as we see our politicians operate within the "blame game," we also fell the need to blame someone. Those different than ourselves are easy targets because then we can claim that it's not our fault.

Immigration policy is very complex and should not be reduced to "sending Mexicans back where they came from!" For one, this philosophy is currently being applied through The National Fugitive Operations Program. Established in 2003, under The Department of Homeland Security, "to dramatically expand the agency's efforts to locate, arrest, and remove fugitives from the United States," it has failed to do so. As a matter of fact, the program has proven to be a huge failure. 73% of those arrested had NO criminal records. With such a low success rate, it's hard to argue against the involvement of racial profiling.

Racial profiling has proven to be ineffective within law enforcement. The price the innocent pay far outweighs the security it is supposed to provide. This can also be seen in the lack of success the US has had successfully prosecuting any of the enemy combatants, held without charge at Guantanamo Bay.

American citizenship can be as simple as being lucky enough to be born here, regardless of your parents status. While others can serve in the military, hoping to come home alive to citizenship for themselves and their families.

It's those who were given their freedom, with no struggle, that tend to take it for granted. Some say that if we "send them all back," all of America's problems will be solved. How so?

Mexicans, in particular, have a historical perspective that seems to get totally disregarded when told to go back from where they came. That would be the Mexican American War, as we were taught.

The differences in perspective, taught in public schools, allowed President James K Polk to rally the young country into a war with Mexico.

"U.S. historians refer to this event as "The Mexican War," while in Mexico we prefer to use the term "The U.S. Invasion." ~ Jesús Velasco-Márquez

The 2009 Historian Presidential Leadership Survey ranks President Polk at number 12. I found it interesting that his individual ratings for "Vision/Setting an Agenda" and "Pursued Equal Justice for All" at 75.7% and 30.2% respectively.

Before the Mexican/American War, Mexico looked like this.

The ideology of Manifest Destiny was used to uproot a people from their land. By force. As a result of this war, James K Polk had added 1.2 million square miles to the American territory in one four-year term. On July 4, 1848 the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo arrived at the White House. On the same day, the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was dedicated.

At this dedication, Robert C. Winthrop, Speaker of the House of Representatives, marked this as "the precise epoch at which we have arrived in the world's history and in our own history."

He continued,

"The "great American-built locomotive, 'Liberty'" moved "on the track of human freedom, unimpeded and unimpaired; gathering strength as it goes; developing new energies to meet new exigencies," with a swiftness that "knows no parallel."

The growing intolerance in our society reflects in the views of our ancestors and elders. We are living in different times, and I would assume that there are few demographics who would want to live in generations past. But we cannot make the mistake of ignoring the injustices of our ancestors for our own personal comfort.

We must study the mistakes of those past, as not to repeat them. It's not about placing blame. It's about understanding what has happened and preventing it from happening again. Hate, confusion, and miseducation all combine to distract each one of our 120 different classifications and causes conflict based on involuntary physical characteristics. Meanwhile, the same people continue to rule and accumulate the world's wealth on the back's of the new-age proletariat.