Tens of millions of people in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving as a memorable occasion of family togetherness.
“Thanksgiving” is an opportunity to reflect on the blessings in life, such as loved ones, friends, health and personal achievements.
Its celebration has historical roots: it is a reminder of the gratitude that European settlers expressed for the generosity of the Wampanoag Indians in 1621.
However, it has evolved to represent a cultural tradition that unites people of different origins in the United States. It is a time of inclusive celebration and connection with local customs.
Uncertainty in many families
But many families will spend this Thanksgiving under the shadow of uncertainty and concern about the imminence of the operation of mass deportations and labor raids promised by Donald Trump.
At least 4.4 million U.S. minors live with at least one undocumented parent. These children are often part of “mixed-status families”, where some members have legal residency or citizenship, while others do not.
Right now, these children face unique challenges, such as potential separation from family, limited access to resources, and the emotional toll of their parents’ uncertain legal status.
A similar situation of anxiety is faced by hundreds of thousands of “dreamers,” even though they contribute to the future of the nation through education, participation in the workforce, and cultural diversity.
These are young patriots who were instrumental during the COVID-19 pandemic in sectors such as agriculture, health, meatpacking, public services, and many more.
If a few years ago the question was whether there would be a legislative consensus to seek a path to regularization for these undocumented immigrants, the national conversation has completely changed.
Now the questions are different: whether children will be separated from their parents again, whether the army will be used for the deportation plan, whether a concentration camp will be built in Texas, or whether the children of undocumented parents will be stripped of their US citizenship.
A contradictory policy
During the pandemic, Donald Trump designated millions of undocumented people as “essential workers”. Now that we have emerged from the worst of the health emergency, those same people are considered unnecessary, expendable.
There is no doubt that the United States has every right to secure its borders, safeguard its territorial integrity, and know who enters and leaves the country.
But there should also be no doubt that in the implementation of this internal security policy, human rights, due process, and dignified treatment of every human being are not ignored.
More than 400 years after that first Thanksgiving, the United States must honor its founding origin as a land that welcomes the persecuted, the dispossessed, and the vulnerable. Nothing more, nothing less.
As the luminous poem written by Emma Lazarus in 1883 and engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty says: “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
