Immigrants are human beings

Dear Editor,

Of all the things that have come from his mouth, the one untruth about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, hit my heart the hardest.

My husband and I spent over 20 years sponsoring refugees for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, through Catholic Charites. They came from many countries around the world all looking for peace, a chance to make a living, an education for their children and freedom from persecution. They were easy to spot at the airport as they all clung to their children and the few bags they were allowed with palpable terror and sorrow on their faces along with just a hint of hope. I took more than one mother to a supermarket and saw tears in their eyes, in awe of our abundance of food. They always took only what they absolutely needed. We taught them to drive, took their children to school and helped them in any way we could. We paid one man’s tuition to truck driving school and, within a year of his graduation, he paid us back in full. We watched these brave people navigate our complicated and unfamiliar society without benefit of extended family, a common language and absolutely no money or property. They learned about America. One girl who spoke Russian was placed in the senior class at a local high school, translated her entire American History book into Russian so that she could better understand the essence of our country. She, along with many other children of these immigrants, graduated from college and went to work. A couple of these grown children joined our armed forces and served our country. All of the grown children became citizens. Their parents washed dishes in restaurants, cleaned nursing home rooms, worked in meat packing plants and toiled on assembly lines to make their dreams for their children come true.

One family from Liberia — refugees of Liberia were caused by a man named Samual Doe who would not accept the results of an election and the ware that ensued — whose seven children were all born in a refugee camp, arrived during the Christmas season. We had to put them in a rundown little rent house where the children went and squatted around the floor furnace and sang Christmas carols, celebrating the season, their good fortune to be here, and the fact that they were all together and safe. They were so appreciative of anything we did, and even named future children after us.

My point is, immigrants are human beings, with the same feelings and worries all of us have. They do not need the added burden of false stories making them out to be less than human. If Christians truly believe in the dignity and value of all life, how can they tolerate this kind of talk?

MARGARET KEATON, SALLISAW