VOICES: Reform needed to address Eurocentric immigration policy

Youssef A Elzein, PE is a local civil engineer and an Arab American Community Activist. (CONTRIBUTED)

Credit: Justin Spivey

Credit: Justin Spivey

Youssef A Elzein, PE is a local civil engineer and an Arab American Community Activist. (CONTRIBUTED)

As an Arab American immigrant, born and raised in the country of Lebanon, next to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees left homeless and nationless since 1948, I developed the urge to work hard to eliminate unjust and inhumane treatment of humans held hostage by world powers — wherever they are. The asylum-seekers south of our border and the DACA generation, just like the Palestinian refugees, are stuck in an endless cycle of geopolitical drama, left homeless and nationless with no light at the end of the tunnel that can bring them hope and peace of mind.

I am one who tries to see the glass half full. I believe that with strong conviction and hard work, anything can be achieved. However, we start the new year with certain powers that be, from the local governments of the southern border states to the Biden Administration, deciding who is worthy to celebrate in peace, in a warm home, with family and friends — and who is not.

I look south of the border, I look at war torn countries around the world, and I see a lot of misery, destruction, and loss of innocent human lives. Even during times of war, we as people represented by our elected politicians, display a racist tendency to give shelter for one group of people but not another.

Here is where I start seeing the glass half empty, where I feel helpless to assist the tens of thousands of people trapped south of the border, used as pawns by politicians who call themselves Christians.

It’s time for us to face the reality that Eurocentricity is still entrenched in our national politics, regardless of who is in power. Our government, within a few months after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, developed a program (and deservingly so) welcoming Ukrainians seeking refuge in the US with open arms, offering them safe haven from war atrocities. This lives up to what is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” This program will offer displaced Ukrainian citizens two years of temporary shelter while leaving behind tens of thousands of non-European asylum seekers fleeing their own conflicts and hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients in limbo without a clear path to becoming legal citizens.

Do you see it? Do you feel it? Do you recognize the systemic racism that is built into our immigration system, leaving non-European migrants with far less than a half glass? I urge my community to stand up and speak up against racist practices and call on our elected officials to immediately pass a just and fair immigration reform bill, a bill that provides asylum seekers/refugees/DACA an equal and clear path to citizenship regardless of their national origin, race, color and/or economic status.

Join the Miami Valley Immigration Coalition, an Alliance for Immigrant Justice, at mvicdayton.org, where the mantras we repeat along this path are “Step by step,” “Paso por paso” and “Forward together.” Juntos adelante.

Youssef A Elzein, PE is a local civil engineer and an Arab American Community Activist.

About the Author