• Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen

latinopia.com

Latino arts, history and culture

  • Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Blogs / FIERCE POLITICS BY ALVARO HUERTA 4.17.16 “GLOBAL MIGRATION A UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHT”

FIERCE POLITICS BY ALVARO HUERTA 4.17.16 “GLOBAL MIGRATION A UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHT”

April 17, 2016 by Tia Tenopia

“Global Migration Represents a Universal Human Right”

Illegal-Aliens2

Migration represents a universal human right.

 In life, as the saying goes, nothing is certain except for death and taxes. I propose another: migration.

Migration represents a universal human right.

Some economists want us to believe that humans migrate, especially the global poor, to more developed countries for better jobs and higher wages. But throughout time, humans also migrate because of climate change, natural disaster, disease, violence, war, repression, dictatorships, religious persecution, drug and gang warfare, free trade agreements and global capitalism.

Humans have been in constant movement throughout history, and always will be. If migration is certain and constant, why do so many Americans and their leaders, particularly conservatives, fuss about Latino immigration to the United States?

As a scholar, I’m interested in this and other questions as I try to understand the complex nature of international migration. When leaders label immigrants “illegal aliens,” “anchor babies” or “threats to national security,” the greater society will have less sympathy for these human beings when they are exploited or deported.

Braceros-Publid-Domain_200

The Bracero Program brought millions of Mexican guest workers to the United States from 1942 to 1964.

Instead of attacking and objectifying immigrants, let’s appreciate their humanity and positive contributions to society. For me, this is not just an academic issue. It’s personal.

I will never forget the stories my father, Salomon Chavez Huerta, told me about his experiences in the U.S. as a guest worker under the Bracero Program during the mid-1900s, toiling in this country’s agricultural fields for meager wages.

I remember him telling me how he felt about being sprayed with chemicals and forced to live in overcrowded housing. He and other Mexican immigrants, his paisanos, were treated like beasts of burden. He was charged for food and rent from the company store. When people insult immigrants, I feel they are insulting the memory of my father.

Once my father’s agricultural contract expired, my family moved from a small rancho in the state of Michoacán to the border city of Tijuana. Once settled in Tijuana, my mother, Carmen Mejia Huerta, worked as a transborder domestic worker, cleaning the homes of Americans and raising their children.

She treated these children like her own. And for this, what did my mother receive? Poor wages, lack of work benefits and disrespect.

Illlegal-Aliens-Border-Fence2-PD_200

My first four years were spent in Tijuana before we settled in east Los Angeles.

During one of her extended work stays in the U.S., my mother was pregnant with me. With the help of extended family members in Sacramento, I was born in the California capital.

I was shortly reunited with my siblings in Tijuana, where I spent the first four years of my life. My parents eventually migrated to el norte and we settled in East Los Angeles’ notorious Ramona Gardens housing project.

My father worked as janitor, and my mother was a domestic worker in West Los Angeles. Thanks to their hard work, four of their eight children attended elite universities.

I received two degrees from UCLA and a doctorate from UC Berkeley. My wife graduated from UCLA, too. Our immigrant parents sacrificed so we could have opportunities not available to them in their home country.

We all benefit from immigrant labor, provided by millions of people like my parents. So why are Americans so fixated with borders? Can we imagine a world without borders?

Professor Bridget Anderson of Oxford University argues that, yes, we should strive for this reality. While some claim that her views represent a utopia, she counters that borders represent a dystopia.

Border-Patrol-car-public-domain_200

Should we tear down the southern border?

Similarly, should we, those of us who envision a more just world, demand that President Barack Obama tear down our southern border?

In his book about the failure of borders, professor Michael Dear of UC Berkeley argues that the U.S. government should tear down the U.S.-Mexico border. Borders don’t work and will eventually come down, he contends.

We all started in one place and ended up in another place. We don’t know where we’ll land tomorrow. Before people judge and denigrate immigrants, they must ask themselves where their ancestors migrated from and if they have migrated or plan to do so in the future.

______________________________________________

Copyright 2016 by Dr. Alvaro Huerta. All photos in this blog are in the public domain.

 

Filed Under: Blogs, Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta Tagged With: Dr. ALvaro huerta, Fierce Politics, national immigration debate

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 05.01.25 TONY ORTEGA’S ARTISTIC JOURNEY

May 1, 2025 By wpengine

Denver Latino Artist Tony Ortega’s Artistic Journey Tony Ortega, an eminent Denver artist, has been painting for over forty years and teaching art for two decades. His creative work has been in hundreds of exhibits and permanently collected by prominent museums including the Denver Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the University […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 04.26.25

April 26, 2025 By wpengine

La Jungla de Pamela y Josué En la altura de la Cordillera Central de Puerto Rico por las crestas de Orocovis, en el barrio Pellejas Está la finca la Jungla que regentan Pamela y Josue.   Una pareja de agricultores empecinados en la más difícil de las tareas: hacer producir cinco cuerdas del terreno más […]

POLITICAL SALSA Y MÁS with SALOMON BALDENEGRO 04.17.25 FAKE VS. TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS

April 17, 2025 By wpengine

Fake vs. true righteousness… Let us preach righteousness, and practice it.  Brigham Young, American religious leader and politician. Last month, in this space, I commented on the hypocrisy of Donald Trump and his cultists and apologists, including, to its everlasting shame, the Republican Party. Trump says he plans to establish a White House Faith Office, […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 04.26.25

April 26, 2025 By wpengine

Latino Art Enhances the Beauty of Botanical Gardens. With the arrival of Spring, Latinos are drawn to parks as well as botanical spaces that include art. A recent visit to San Antonio Botanical Gardens demonstrated to me that art can make these visits a more engaging experience. The Botanical Garden is a stunning gem of […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA ART SONIA ROMERO 2

By Tia Tenopia on October 20, 2013

Sonia Romero is a graphic artist,muralist and print maker. In this second profile on Sonia and her work, Latinopia explores Sonia’s public murals, in particular the “Urban Oasis” mural at the MacArthur Park Metro Station in Los Angeles, California.

Category: Art, LATINOPIA ART

LATINOPIA WORD JOSÉ MONTOYA “PACHUCO PORTFOLIO”

By Tia Tenopia on June 12, 2011

José Montoya is a renowned poet, artist and activist who has been in the forefront of the Chicano art movement. One of his most celebrated poems is titled “Pachuco Portfolio” which pays homage to the iconic and enduring character of El Pachuco, the 1940s  Mexican American youth who dressed in the stylish Zoot Suit.

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

LATINOPIA WORD XOCHITL JULISA BERMEJO “OUR LADY OF THE WATER GALLONS”

By Tia Tenopia on May 26, 2013

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is a poet and teacher from Asuza, California. She volunteered with No More Deaths, a humanitarian organization providing water bottles in the Arizona desert where immigrants crossing from Mexico often die of exposure. She read her poem, “Our Lady of the Water Gallons” at a Mental Cocido (Mental Stew) gathering of Latino authors […]

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

© 2025 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin