Avila 1
Pablo C. Avila
HUP101.1441
Instructor, Kim Baxter
7 October 2008
Socratic Dialogue
Throughout the past decades, the United States has seen a tremendous increase in immigration
rates. On the one hand, people who have migrated from different countries have come here not
only to get a new job and help their loved ones back home but to plant future generations here.
One main reason for people, especially from Latin American countries, to migrate to the United
States is that there are not enough jobs back there and the economic situation is simply not
stable. Thus, parents don’t have enough money to have a good living or to send their kids to
school. On the other hand, people have come to this country as tourists; they want know the good
environment this country has to offer, but more importantly, they come for the numberless places
that are known worldwide, those places are all the time visited by millions of these people who
come from so far just to know a bit more about this culture and society.
Since the undocumented immigrant rates have increased in the past years, authorities are using
raids in strategic places, where they think more undocumented immigrants are employed, to
arrest them and have them face trials and, in some cases, a later deportation.
In this Socratic dialogue, I present the experience of an immigrant who despite the difficult
situation back in his native El Salvador, had a job as a teacher. He was single and did not have
too many responsibilities since he did not have any kids. One day, he decided to come to the
United States as tourist to know a different place and know more about the American culture. He
was not lucky after a couple of months of being here because he was robbed and was forced, due
to the circumstance, to work since he did not have anything to eat or place where to go. He, then
will face justice and deportation for having worked in a factory.
This immigrant who came legally to the United States five years ago, but his current status is
“undocumented immigrant,” began to work in a factory four years and a half ago as a
meatpacker. In this job, he realizes many people are undocumented as well and knows that as
long as he pays his taxes and behaves in good moral character, he is not going to have any
problem with the authorities. Nevertheless, the ICE (Immigration And Customs Enforcement)
arrested him and many other workers from the same factory in a raid. Now he faces the justice
for having worked all this time with no legal documentation under his name and his sentence can
be a deportation with no permission to enter the country ever again.
Socratic Dialogue
Avila 2
Prosecutor:
You are here to face the justice because of your current status of
“undocumented” immigrant and for having illegally entered the country through
the border between the United States and Mexico. Under the undocumented
condition, you were not authorized to work in the country, but you did, thus,
violating the law. You have been working with no documentation under your
name because your social security card has been proved to be someone else’s.
Furthermore, you are here to face the justice for evading the legal procedures to
enter the country and work with someone else’s documents within the country.
Judge:
This court has listened to the charges and now requires the defendant’s view.
Mr. Avila:
First of all, I have not entered the United States illegally. For when I entered the
country, I came with an authorized tourist visa that lasted for six months.
During that period, as a tourist, I was a victim of an assault in which I was
physically harmed and also I lost all my money as well as all my
documentation, included my native country’s identification card, my passport,
my wallet, my watch, and some clothes. I filed a complaint to the police station
but did not get any answer. In that situation, I was forced to work because I had
nothing to eat and no place to live in. Fortunately, I got a job in a factory as a
meatpacker where I was told that I could work even with a former employee’s
name that was no longer working at the factory. Since I was in necessity, I
accepted the job. Since then, I have been working in good moral character
throughout these nine years. As a result of that, my employers can certify my
good performance in the position.
Judge:
Then, you are undocumented and are not authorized to work, is that right?
Mr. Avila:
Correct, I am undocumented and am not authorized to work under my name.
However, I have to explain the following: I did not enter the country illegally,
and in reference to the authorization to work, it was given to me by my
employers at the factory, and I accepted it in good moral character. But my
work has generated my contribution to the payment of taxes throughout these
five years that I have worked at the factory. Therefore, contributing to the
progress of the country, independently, from the name that appears in the social
security card. For that reason, I strongly believe that my current status of
undocumented immigrant has not generated any harm to anyone in the society,
but on the contrary, it has generated taxes as any other citizen would generate in
this country that the government uses to stabilize the economy in, for example,
the payment of official authorities, paying the issues of an external war, or to
stabilize the economic crisis as in Wall Street.
Prosecutor:
Your Honor, it is clear how Mr. Avila accepts the charges that are being
imposed to him. Since his explanations are useless to prove otherwise. Now, I
request that he explains to the court what documents he has now to live and
work in the United States.
Socratic Dialogue
Avila 3
Judge:
Mr. Avila, then you answer the question the prosecutor is asking you.
Mr. Avila:
Your Honor, I repeat, I have not entered to the United States illegally and I was
authorized to work by my employers and for that reason I was accepted to work
throughout these five years. Besides, I strongly believe that in my scale of
values my right to live was more important than not having a document under
my name. The right to live, is the right to get an education, to eat, to have a
house, the right to dress, and they encompass the human rights that are
respected worldwide. And I could not put under risk for not having a document
only and also when I am not harming anyone in the society, I am in good moral
character. Therefore, I claim myself innocent of the charges that are being
imposed to me and I should not be punished with deportation.
Prosecutor:
His answers do not convince me. Despite the explanations, the charges have
been proved because Mr. Avila is currently in the country under the status of
undocumented and he accepts that he has worked with another person’s
documents. Furthermore, he must be found guilty and, in the execution of the
sentence, he must be deported. Now, I want to ask him why he did not go back
to his country once he had saved enough money to pay for his tickets instead of
staying illegally in the United States for this long period of time.
Judge:
Mr. Avila, now answer the question the prosecutor is asking you.
Mr. Avila:
Your Honor, I accepted the job the first place because I was in extremely
necessity for I had been robbed absolutely everything and I was out of money, I
had neither anything to eat nor place where to go. As months went by, my
employers realized I was a good worker and they kept telling me to continue
working with them at the factory, something I could not deny because I had to
save money for rent, food, and transportation. On top of that, I had to buy some
clothes as well. All this means that due to this assault, I had to adapt myself to a
new society without finding myself in anything that can put my moral character
under risk.
Judge:
Before the verdict, Does the Mr. Avila’s defense have anything to say in
reference to the charges imposed by the prosecutor?
Mr. Avila’s Attorney: Your Honor, after having listened to his allegation, I strongly believe he
is innocent. First of all, we have heard that through the narration of the facts he
has been clear in saying that in his scale of values his right to live was more
important than having a document under his name. As we know, the right to live
signifies the right to eat, to dress, to get an education, to have a house and those
rights are recognized as human rights addressed to every single person
worldwide and thus they are accepted and respected in the international treaties,
for example, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights where the right
Socratic Dialogue
Avila 4
to live is respected as well as the right to the personal integrity. These rights are
superior to any administrative infringement. Moreover, my defendant has not
harmed anyone in the society, but on the contrary, with his work and effort, he
has generated contributions to the national treasury with which public payments,
such as salaries of federal employers, the cost of the war in Iraq, and even the
bailout due to the financial crisis caused in Wall Street, are paid. Finally, I
consider that, through the recounting of the facts, my defendant must be found
innocent of the charges against him.
Judge:
After listening to the accusation of the prosecutor and the allegation of the
defense this court, goes on recess and awaits the jury to make a decision and
announce the verdict.
Jury:
The jury, after a long discussion, has decided for majority that Mr. Avila is
found to be guilty.
Judge:
Having heard the decision of the jury, this court will pronounce the sentence on
the next audience.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Judge:
Since the jury has found Mr. Avila guilty of the charges of being at the United
States under the status of undocumented immigrant and for working with
someone else’s documents this court, now, pronounces the next sentence on this
case:
1. Mr. Avila is investigated for committing two crimes. First, for currently being
undocumented at the United Stated. Second, for currently working using the
social security card that belongs to another person.
2. It has been proved that despite Mr. Avila entered the United States in a legal
condition, his current status is of an undocumented immigrant.
3. It has been proved that Mr. Avila has been working with another person’s
documents. However, it has not been proved that Mr. Avila has falsified any
documents.
4. It has been proved that Mr. Avila has been working using the documents that
belong to another person. But, it has not been proved that that document had
been given by Mr. Avila, but on the contrary it was given to him at the place
where he worked.
5. The laws of this country punish the person who is in the country without any
documents under his or her name issued by any official authority within this
territory.
6. The laws of this country equally punish the person who uses documents
belonging to another person.
Socratic Dialogue
Avila 5
For all the reasons above stated, this court declares Mr. Avila guilty of the
charges stated in point one; as a consequence, it is given the sentence of
deportation that is to be effective in execution of sentence.
Judge:
Having heard his sentence, does Mr. Avila have anything to say?
Mr. Avila:
I disagree with the sentence, therefore, I appeal to it considering that the reasons
for which I was forced to work have not been taken into consideration and
because the laws that protect the human rights are not applied in the sentence,
which, in my opinion, means an infringement to the process. Moreover, my
good moral character has not been taken into consideration either, even when I
have stood on that moral character throughout five years.
Finally, the court confirmed the sentence and Mr. Avila was deported to El Salvador.
Final Reflection
Once in El Salvador, he began to organize his community to promote the human rights he
defended during his trial, orienting the youth, based on his experience in the United States, about
the reality of undocumented immigrants in the United States and how they should be protected
by the human rights protected worldwide.
The rates of undocumented immigrants in the United States have tremendously increased.
However, there is a diversity of cases that unified by the term “undocumented” can identify any
person, under this situation, in this country. When I knew the story of this immigrant whom I
represented in this dialogue a long time ago, it always interested me since it is not the typical
case of an immigrant who wants to come to the United States at any cost to get a better life, but a
case of an immigrant who, due to an event he never expected, finally saw himself in a situation
he would have never imagined—facing deportation. When he was finally deported, he realized
not only that the justice in the United States did not respect the human rights he defended during
his trial but more importantly to mention that the justice in the United States defended laws, in
his opinion, of less importance compared to the laws that defend the human rights respected
worldwide.
Socratic Dialogue
Avila 6
Socratic Dialogue