Is America still the land of the free?

I am doing my service learning at the Interfaith Workers' Justice center where we advocate for workers who have not been compensated for their work. Most of the workers that come in are undocumented Latin Americans. I found a pertinent article in Tuesday's edition of the New York Times titled "Arizona Seeing Signs of Flight By Immigrants," that speaks a lot about immigrant workers, both legal and undocumented. The gist of the article is that due to America's slowing economy and its crackdown on immigration laws, many of the more than 300,000 (over 11% of the workforce in Arizona) immigrant workers in Arizona are heading back home. What I found interesting was the reality pointed out in this article that America is not necessarily as "free" and opportunistic as it once might have been. This article shows a juxtaposition that is overlooked all too often: people are leaving this country as well immigrating to it. I think many people in America only see it from one side of this exchange, the side that sees the great number of Latin Americans immigrating the States, and they fail to realize that what is happening in Arizona right now is not uncommon. I would venture a guess and say that it will be become more and more common, as our economy continues to slow, and our immigration policy becomes more stringent.

Check it out!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/us/12arizona.html?ref=us