There Is No Easy Answer

Reflection on the Illegal Immigration Issue


by John Russell Turner, May 11, 2019

Imagine if you will, a story about Ramon, Nora, and their child, Felipe. This family lived in Honduras, a country troubled by violence, poverty, and political corruption. Both Ramon and Nora lost their jobs because of lay offs in the manufacturing plant where they worked. Unemployed, neither one of them could find new jobs because the economy in Tegucigalpa (the capital city of Honduras) is bad. Soon their savings account was depleted, and the family was evicted from their apartment in the city. Desperate, they decided to flee their country and head to the United States, where they heard there is plenty of work. Some people in the city were organizing a caravan of other people who want to work; some for basic survival, others to keep their families together. They joined this caravan, and in due course, arrived at the US border. This is a typical story behind many of the people seen here in El Paso/Juarez, and at Laredo, Nogales, Tijuana, et al. They have no desire to hurt anyone; they only want to work and be with their beloved families. Such is not possible in their native countries, and this saddens them, for who likes to leave the land of their birth, their culture, and their ancestors?