“El perro si, pero yo no”

Last week, Carlotta (Car) and I invited my old student, Jose, to dinner at the house. On our way to the train station I was explaining to him that Car was a bit sad because her dog and closest cousin weren’t coming that weekend as expected. In mixed Spanish and English our conversation went as follows: “Mwalimu, Ohio is far from Boston, she was driving?” He asked. “No, she was flying” I responded. “Wow (shaking his head), the dog can go on the plane?” “You mean inside the plane?” I replied, “Yes, (while motioning a little sized bag), just put it in the bag, and take it on the plane like your book bag” His response: “Damn, the dog on the plane, but I can’t go to Santo Domingo!” “El perro si, pero yo no.”

That’s when I understood that he was not inquiring about the fact that a dog can fly on a plane just because of the interesting notion of a dog on a plane but rather because he has been in the U.S. for 5 years and has been unable to return home to visit his mother who raised him. Neither is he able to fly domestically. He is what many call “illegal,” what others more respectfully call “undocumented.” In other words, his documentation status, in this case, has rendered him as having less rights than my wife’s dog.

Interesting that if a dog were to wander across a border into the U.S. because perhaps it sensed food, water, or shelter on the other side, it would simply be an animal sipping from a river. If it were a bird migrating north and feeding on seeds, it would just be an animal eating from a tree. No one would flinch. In fact, they might make a television show or movie out of it and make millions. But, if a human being moves freely across a border because he or she senses more availability of food, water, or shelter, then they are assigned the designation of “illegal.” That term, when applied to human beings, is complete and final. Language is more powerful than we know and that is exemplified in the word “illegal” as it is applied to human beings. What does it mean for a human being to be illegal? There blood, their skin, their thoughts, their very presence are crimes. Who decides who is in the state of illegality? Who decides what resources are on which sides of a border?