The title of the poem is named Homecoming due to the nature of the content of which immigrants will be leaving their homes, and in the attempt of finding a new home in a new country. I started the poem using a deceptive form of that highlights from the immigrants leave the country and the journey towards the new country. I wanted the reader to understand what it would be like to travel far and wide from their own home in order to sympathize with immigrants, and how it would feel when they get stopped at the border or arrested by CBP thus I add in sensory terms such as hungry, and words relating to temperature.
The poem helps understand the issue of immigration in which there is no clear solution besides simply letting them in. As the issue of why immigrates are leaving their country is never brought up by the current administration nor truly addressed and is simply acted or treated as “invasion” of “aliens.” However, the members of ICE and CBP are simply doing their jobs but the tone of security is used for the halting of the mass migration. It brings the message of stopping an enemy of the nation, instead of a potential citizen. The message I wanted to give through the poem was the sense that U.S treats the immigrants as enemies, but the immigrants see the U.S as beacon of hope and are faced with a blockade. The topic of immigration is one that should be brought up and should have a proper reaction towards it. As many countries deal with immigration in their own way, but the United States deals with it in a way that focuses on outside threats compared to the ones inside the country. As we now live in an age where many people are scared to go to schools or even places of worship due to recent shootings in the news, and yet the nation continues to focus on the outside and not the inside.
The article that I used as inspiration was The Texas Tribune’s “Conditions deteriorating at makeshift camp on the Rio Grande where thousands await U.S. asylum” as when I was reading it helped give me an image of what it would be like in those kinds of camps. Using this article alongside the poem by Pat Mora “La Migra” I wanted a to recreate those emotions and imagery using a poem just like Mora had done in her poem. As she recreated the point of view from both the immigrant and the Border Patrol, it gave a good sense of both side of the conflict. I wanted to capture that perspective and give it a deeper meaning while also giving a bigger picture of a large issue. Another article I used as inspiration was Suzanna Jack’s “ICE and the Unquestioned Human Cost of Efficiency: A Moral Reckoning” it gave me on perspective of ICE that I wasn’t aware of as the article mentioned issues that an organization such as ICE has to deal with such as when the administration wants all illegal immigrants dealt with.
I would hope that people would take the message of connections or at least understanding that there are many sides to an issue. An issue such as this mass immigration by the Mexican border is one that has many sides to it and as such should be fully understood in order to find the proper solution.
Sources
Jack, Suzanna (2019) “ICE and the Unquestioned Human Cost of Efficiency: A Moral Reckoning,” Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities: Vol. 8 : Iss. 1 , Article 7.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/tapestries/vol8/iss1/7
Coronado, Acacia. “Conditions Deteriorating at Makeshift Camp on the Rio Grande Where Thousands Await U.S. Asylum.” The Texas Tribune, The Texas Tribune, 25 Oct. 2019, https://www.texastribune.org/2019/10/25/conditions-deteriorating-migrant-camp-thousands-await-asylum/.
Contemporary American Dreams & Nightmares 