MEXICO CITY, July 9 (Reuters) - A cargo train used by Mexicans and Central Americans to travel toward the U.S. border derailed in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on Wednesday, stranding about 1,300 migrants, emergency services said.
Many of the migrants aboard were young people and nobody was injured when the train nicknamed "the Beast" came off the tracks, a spokesman for local emergency services said.
The more I read and watch on TV the wave of young children being detained as soon as they set foot in this country by the wave of self-appointed border militias and ICE the more I become aware that what I have said repeatedly, that these "ILLEGALS", as the word itself has become so traditional among anti-immigrants, the more I realize that these dangerous criminals are children and that they will continue to come. They will not stop.
I am amazed about the "mums the word" on the beast by anti-immigrants. This particular train is named `the beast` for its dangerous traveling accommodations, that anyone who hops on `the beast` must ride atop the boxcars for thousands of miles usually with only the clothes on their backs as possessions risking serious bodily injury and even death -- which comes regularly to these children searching for a dream.
I doubt very seriously that the best of the racist belching anti-immigration would dare to try what these children are doing as we speak even if their life depended on it. I have yet to read about this "over-ground-railroad to freedom" by anyone here or on Fox News.
Believe me as I say again, that these children atop this beast will not stop coming from many parts of South American countries because the beast is sanctioned by Mexico who has even set up many stations where the beast pulls up for those on the ground to feed the children and offer support, money and food for the road towards the dream. And this will continue until some form of dialog on immigration reform bear fruit or the political fodder for those relying on the Hispanic vote come to their senses. Never before have the Democrats been presented with such a powerful voting bloc than Hispanics to keep control of the Senate and possibly get the House as well.
Often one will read that some Hispanics are against illegal immigration reform and are against amnesty or granting citizenship to immigrants in this country. You probably have read that correctly, but I can tell you you this: These so-called Hispanics vote Republican and their numbers mean nothing at the polls. My word for these ass-holes is Vendidos, `sold-outs, turn coats. And add what you read to the right-wing media who puts this shit out.
Time is fast approaching to get to the voting booth. One thing surely to derail Democrats is the failure to pass some form of immigration reform by then. Republicans and Everyone knows this. My personal view on how things are going with Obama and his relentless pursuit of deporting immigrants is troubling. He is not on the ballot this time and I know he is just another politician. You can guess whatever you want about what I mean and you probably would be right.
And the natives are nervous. They are afraid of these children...these criminals who dare to violate the law. A law created for this purpose to brand anyone wishing to come to the land of the free just that...unless of course immigrants come from sic` you know, somewhere else.
What we are seeing today at our borders is nothing new, if not for the numbers. It has always been this way and I have personally seen it and have gotten involved to rescue an oppressed and hungry mother and child at a time when no `beast` was required to journey into this country. There was no such thing as `illegal immigrants`much less was there a bunch of Fox News bigots to stop the flow.
These influx of young migrants from South America and Mexico as the article states that are coming to America to seek a better life is a trend that has been ongoing for hundreds of years. Some of these very young brave children who risk their lives to come here come for several reasons, and none is to violate immigration laws as some would want you to believe. There are no cartels involved. No diseases are involved and certainly no drug mules bringing marijuana to this country, especially now that it is legal here
When it comes to immigration these days, to me personally my heart has always been in the right place although nowadays it beats a bit slower and miss a beat once in a while it stills recognize what justice and fairness is. I had the opportunity and the occasion many years ago to get involved with two human beings trying to reach a loved one in this country while they trekked the wilderness of Mexico and the Texas deserts on foot on their way to Houston, Texas.
I have always supported anyone who risk `anything` to come to this country and I do not care about the law. Because I know from experience and age that these laws are unjust, and designed with draconian and racist tones for people of color, no matter where they come from.
Two years ago I wrote a diary about an experience I had with two people - who today would qualify as criminals and law-breakers for entering this county illegally. The story takes a reader to the years in the 1960`s when I was a young man with the spirit of a young colt. It was a young mother and child who came knocking on my door as I worked for the railroad in Texas. And no, the `beast` had not yet reared its ugly and dangerous head.
I do warn you though, you must be a reader to fully comprehend my message then and read a lengthy diary to find the part that describes my experience with this mother and child. That part is near the center of the diary.
I know, I know, experience here at Daily Kos in my short time here has shown me the interest that Kossacks in general have for issues on immigration...Zero. Some even are staunch supporters of the Republican mantra of Illegals, law breakers and shit. But I still love you. Because I am a Kossack and one of the good ones. And I write this because I can. I helps my cholesterol and keeps my blood pressure in check.
I was a storyteller at the time here at Daily kos. I wrote many diaries of my own sufferings as a child. I learned as I grew up that no matter how much suffering you went through, you never wanted to let go of those memories. The child that came to my door that dark night in Texas was such a memory I will never forget. Please believe me, he was not a criminal, and he was very sick and hungry - and above all else, he was very afraid.
You can read my narration of that child and mother and how I helped them to continue their trek to freedom and their dream -- to find the husband and father to the child that was already in this country legally and assumed a citizen. It is a rather extensive dairy that covers different aspects of my life as it pertained to that time period.
Under the Orange Squiggle of the diary I wrote February 18, 2012, eight paragraphs deep you will find the following two paragraph quotes:
Sitting at my desk in front of a large window everything outside was pitch black, but I saw some movement and became alarmed. I pretended not to have seen it and continued my work. Anyone who knows how these depots operate, know that no one is allowed near other than the telegrapher operator, unless it is someone who has official business with the railroad and needs to consult the operator. I had spent all of my working nights alone and isolated in this wilderness when I heard the soft knock on my door. I cautiously walked to the door but the reflection of the inside of the depot on the window pane did no allow me to see outside, even if there was a light bulb on the side of the building. I opened the door slightly and saw the woman and the child. I opened the door wide. I saw myself as the small child, raggedy and obviously hungry, my head reeled and my mind flashed back in time and I froze.
The woman was young in her twenties, but looked very old and battered with her hair carrying pieces of grass as if having spent time on the ground apparently resting or sleeping. The child was a portrait of me in my mind. I asked the woman what she wanted and she begged me for some water. She told me that they had been running for eight days even though it was only 30 miles from the border. The child was sick and she had to stop periodically to tend his illness. I told the woman to come inside where I fed them and saw the child was very weak, malnourished and skinny. The woman said she was going to find her husband somewhere around Houston, Texas and asked me for help.
That incident and personal experience has always felt like a warm glow in my heart for those unfortunate but lucky immigrants, who sought only a hope for a better life with a husband and father in this country. That was all they asked for, my help in making a fading dream come true. I recall with pleasant memories that dark night in the wilderness where I toiled free and unafraid of border patrol -- who incidentally came to my depot and showed me respect.
It bothers me to even think that today I would duplicate what I did back then to help those immigrants, and risk being branded as an offender to assisting those who threaten our borders --these children. And I don`t doubt for a second that it could happen. But I think I would risk all that too. As long as a child finds his parents and get reunited with them.
Because I know for a fact, that the majority of the children who were riding the beast when it derailed in Mexico were coming to America looking to reunite with parents. These children are the innocent products of the rogue politicians who use them as pawns in their chess games for power. President Barrack Obama has the next move and will certainly make a losing one. Yes I would risk whatever I had to lose to duplicate myself to those long ago years.
I has been a while since I felt like writing, or doing anything for that matter. When I saw the beast had crashed in Mexico, I had this stubborn feeling that has been my belief for a long time -- the beast or no one else will stop these children and young adults from risking their lives to come to this country and live their dream of someday becoming citizens of this great nation. Everyone knows this. They will never stop coming, no matter what politician say or what laws they design to keep them out. These immigrants are the wind, the water, the air that has kept this nation as wealthy and powerful as it is today.