Illegal Immigration: On Both Sides Of The Question | The Odyssey Online
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Politics

Illegal Immigration: On Both Sides Of The Question

Read it as a poem, but take it as a reality.

Katherine J. Martínez
Dec 13, 2016
Notre Dame of Maryland University
14
Illegal Immigration: On Both Sides Of The Question
Flickr

I pay him to cut my lawn.

He pays me to do art.

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There’s no way

I’m touching the grass.

His hands don’t know

How to make it shine.

Illegal and uneducated...

Legal, yet ignorant!

I watch him struggle,

Chopping down a tree,

Chopping down his life!


I work this land;

In mine I was scared.

In mine, I would be dead!

Every day, I grab my badge...

Every day, I grab the shovel...

Ready to hunt!

I have to work!

I stare at my neighborhood

Hoping they’ll all be gone!

I look at my barrio

Praying to come back

Until...

Outside

In the parking lot

Is where it all started.

I didn’t see the stop sign,

I saw fresh meat

But I saw his grin.

STOP!

STOP!

One more where they're supposed to be.

One less day with that anxiety.


"In utramque partem" refers to the ability to take either side of an issue.

In 2015, ICE removed 96,045 non-criminal individuals according to the official website of the U.S. Department of Homeland and Security. If presented with a question about illegal immigration, what would you do?

This poem depicts the contrast between a regular day in the life of an unfairly biased ICE official and that of an undocumented immigrant.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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