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By David Magallanes • Guest contributor

I stare at the family group site on Facebook where members of my family have been archiving photos and documents for many years. There I see the “Declaration of Intention” document filed by my paternal grandfather, José Magallanes, with the names of his children (including my father, one year of age) as they were settling into the United States. This document declared his intention to reside permanently in this country and to eventually become a citizen.

My four grandparents left Mexico frightened and in desperation. Their lives and the lives of their children were being threatened by powerful anti-Catholic rivals. They were greeted and embraced by this nation as refugees from a tumultuous, unstable country. During this time in history, Mexicans migrated to the U.S. with practically no resistance. They and their compatriots were not greeted by thousands of troops and armed militias who claimed to be fighting an “invasion.” At the time, there were no political stunts designed to sway voters by instilling fear and hatred in them. In fact, Mexicans moved relatively freely across the southern border, at least until the Great Depression of 1929, at which time that door was slammed shut.

In a few years, my siblings, cousins and I will be celebrating the centennial of the arrival of our families into this country, led by our grandparents and great-grandparents who were determined to risk everything and suffer great personal losses in order to give us fortunate descendants a chance to survive and thrive in a rich and powerful country.

We are eternally grateful that those ancestors didn’t have to face troops, weapons and militias determined to send them back to a nation in chaos and in which they likely would not have survived. They were too closely aligned with the Catholic Church, a target of powerful forces in Mexico at the time. Today, Latin American refugees as desperate as my grandparents had been are risking everything to escape countries whose violence can be traced back, at least partially, to American interventions. At the very least, we owe these frantic migrants a consideration of their legal pleas for asylum for themselves and for their families.

— David Magallanes is a writer, speaker and professor of mathematics.

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Las Fuerzas Armadas en la Frontera

Por David Magallanes • Columnista invitado

Miro con fijeza el sitio particular en Facebook dedicado a mi familia y en donde los miembros de la familia han estado archivando fotos y documentos durante muchos años. Allí veo el documento “Declaración de Intención” presentado a las autoridades por mi abuelo paterno, José Magallanes, con los nombres de sus hijos (incluido mi padre, a un año de edad) cuando ingresaron a los Estados Unidos. Este documento declaró su intención de residir permanentemente en este país y, al fin y al cabo, para convertirse en un ciudadano.

Mis cuatro abuelos huyeron México desesperados y atemorizados. Sus vidas y las vidas de sus hijos estaban siendo amenazadas por poderosos rivales anticatólicos. Los abuelos fueron recibidos acogedoramente por esta nación como refugiados de un país tumultuoso e inestable. Durante este tiempo en la historia, los mexicanos emigraron a los Estados Unidos prácticamente sin resistencia. Ellos y sus compatriotas no fueron recibidos por miles de tropas y milicias armadas que según ellos lucharan contra una “invasión”. En ese momento, no había trucos políticos diseñados para influir en los votantes al meterles ideas odiosas en la cabeza. De hecho, los mexicanos se movieron con relativa libertad a través de la frontera sureña, al menos hasta la Gran Depresión de 1929, momento en el que la puerta se cerró de golpe.

En unos pocos años, mis hermanos, primos y yo celebraremos el centenario de la llegada de nuestras familias a este país, encabezadas por nuestros abuelos y bisabuelos, quienes estaban decididos a arriesgar todo y sufrir grandes pérdidas personales para darles a nosotros, sus afortunados descendientes, la oportunidad de sobrevivir y prosperar en un país rico y poderoso.

Estamos eternamente agradecidos de que esos antepasados ??no tuvieran que enfrentarse a tropas y milicias decididas a enviarlos de vuelta a una nación en caos y en la que probablemente no hubieran sobrevivido. Mis abuelos estaban demasiado alineados con la Iglesia Católica, un blanco de fuerzas poderosas en México en ese momento. Hoy en día, los refugiados latinoamericanos, tan desesperados como mis abuelos, están arriesgando todo para escaparse de países cuya violencia se remonta, al menos parcialmente, a las intervenciones estadounidenses. Por lo menos, les debemos a estos migrantes frenéticos una consideración legal de sus peticiones de asilo para ellos mismos y para sus familias.

— David Magallanes es un escritor, orador y profesor de matemáticas.

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