Millions living among us.
Children walking to school.
Pledging allegiance to our flag,
Wondering about the Golden Rule.

Gray market employment,
Wages less than fair.
Economically exploited
Do U.S. citizens really care?

Separate and unequal.
Millions forced to hide.
Living and breathing hope,
The reality of immipartheid.

Liberty and justice -
For some but not for others.
Tears flow from the hearts,
Of undocumented fathers and mothers.

Legislative limbo,
Has established a segregated people.
The majority gathers on Sunday,
To worship beneath the steeple.

Self-righteous, fear-laden fervor,
Legitimizes what observers find so odd.
Is legislated oppression
Condoned by Almighty God?

Mere existence in our midst,
Adjudicated guilty without trial.
Tolerating our own intolerance,
Comfortable in our denial.

Illegal’s, criminals and aliens -
Terms used to demonize their plight.
As undocumented men and women,
Clean America’s offices at night.

Powerless to advocate an outcome.
Silently adrift in this life’s boat.
Perhaps we might lend a hand,
They’ve earned the right to vote.

What about the bi-lingual students,
Those who excel in English, science and math?
Teachers for the next generation,
Absent citizenship’s path.

Excuse, piled upon excuse -
Buried in dishonest justification.
Eliminating immipartheid
Shall provide oxygen to our Nation.

Let’s wipe out immipartheid,
Courageously approach this fundamental task.
Let’s lift the veil that obscures the truth,
We can’t hide behind racism’s mask.

Building our homes, harvesting our crops
With hammers, picks, hoes, and axes.
Employers take deductions from their pay
And fail to remit the taxes.

Counterintuitive as it may seem,
Our attitudes must make a shift.
Unraveling immipartheid,
May contain our greatest gift.

Children of One Maker,
Created equal one and all.
We mighty one’s must bend,
To help the disadvantaged when they call.

Can we continue going on,
Looking the other way?
Unwilling and unrepentant,
Is Immipartheid here to stay?

The whole world is watching.
Will our hollow slogans become action?
Resolving immipartheid,
Restores U.S. integrity with traction.

The duplicity of it all,
Is the essence of what I abhor.
“Liberty and Justice for All!
Yet, immipartheid we ignore.

Oh, sweet land of the free.
Home of the brave.
Let’s eradicate immipartheid!
This must become our rave.

Rise up America!
It’s time to face the blame.
Rid our land of this disease.
Immipartheid is its name.

T’was the weeks before Christmas And all through this nation
Not a fingers been lifted,
To address the injustice of undocumented immigration.

The obsession at the moment, is riveted on Iraq,
Lost in the madness is our heart’s under attack.
While millions of immigrant families live and work scared,
Hoping they’ll awaken some day in a nation that cared.

The children of undocumented immigrants are all snuggled in their beds,
While visions of deportation dance in their heads.
No stockings are hung by any chimney anywhere,
They can’t afford socks, and chimneys are rare.

“Momma doesn’t own a “kerchief,” and daddy has no cap,
We sleep two in each bunk bed, even when we nap.”

We live in high- density housing,
There’s a constant din of traffic noise and clatter
It would take a lot more than a herd of  Reindeer
To rouse our family to go out and see what’s the matter.

In our neighborhood if we hear something loud, like a crash
We dive for cover on the floor in a flash,
We have bars on our windows, no shutters or sash.

The moonlight illuminates the thugs, on the corners below
They never go away, just blend into the shadows they know.
When what to my broken heart did appear?
The realization that we’ve been ignored, for a whole ‘nother year.

As infants we came,
In the arms of mom and dad across the border.
No Child Left Behind?
Can someone please resolve this unjust disorder?

In my neighborhood, when you see a car drive erratically,
A driver who’s speeding real quick.
“Dive for cover! It’s a drive-by in progress!”
It’s surely not some fat bearded white guy named “Saint Nick.”

Our President proclaims, “No child left behind!”
If he came to our barrio, we would ask if he’s deaf, dumb and blind.
If he took time to meet me, my family and folks of our kind,
He’d see the exceptions that this slogan treats so unkind.

Today I woke up, to the sound of my mother’s scream.
This is no exaggeration. This was no dream.
My father was unconscious, he was motionless and looked lost.
He hadn’t had his insulin, because of the cost.

My hope is some day soon,
Our country will confront this ongoing shame.
We need responsible leadership, I can call them by name;

“Now, Bush! Now, Cheney! Now, Pelosi and Clinton!
On, Reid! On Biden! On Villaraigosa and Obama!
To the floor in House! To the Senate roll call!
Do the right thing! Dash away this shame that casts this great pall!
Demonstrate to the world we mean it when we say, “Liberty and Justice for ALL!”

Just as the winds disperse pollution from America’s skies,
These leaders have the power, to wipe the tears from millions of eyes.
I dream of the day, when truth replaces sound bites and lies.
When half-baked appeasements give way to the freedom we must realize.

The day when up to the Hilltop, our leaders will fly
With comprehensive legislation, forget that St. Nicholas guy.
And then, in a twinkling, you’ll hear from our heart.
This flag I have pledged all these years, has been my only home from the start.

Please, no more prancing and pawing, yet another legislative spoof.
Let’s resolve this issue head-on, instead of wandering around on the roof.
I envision the day, as I’m turning around,
Tapping on my shoulder is President Bush, without a sound.

He is dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
His cowboy hat and clothes are all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of legislation he has flung on his back,
He asks me for a pen, as he’s opening his knapsack.

His eyes — how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
He smirked and chuckled when he said,
“Lame duck? I’ll show those Democrats, Reid, Biden, Hillary, Obama and Kerry!”

His drawl was clearly Texan, sporting a cowboy-like bow,
Dick Cheney stood behind him, his face, white as snow;
A ballpoint pen Bush held tight in his teeth,
There was a halo that encircled his head like a wreath;

Cheney had a broad face and a rotund round belly,
That shook, as he stood in our doorway, like a nervous bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, not at all glad to see ya.
He recoiled for a moment when momma offered him a tortilla.

President Bush and I laughed when we saw this,
Cheney really didn’t know what to think,
“Are you really going to sign this executive order George?”
President Bush looked up, and gave me a wink.

“I’m sick of the bickering. It’s time to do the right thing.
Barbara reminded me that No Child Left Behind,
Includes those brought here illegally as infants. How could our nation be so unkind?
To overlook these innocent victims you’d have to be out of your mind!”

“The bills now in our Congress,
Focused on guest workers and building the fence.
What about the fate of all these innocent children?
How could America be so hard-hearted and dense/”

With a quick glance and a flick of his pen,
“Yes I am Dick,” “this is how this term in Congress will end.”
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
“Amnesty for the children!” he said with a smirk.
“Forgive my friend. Dick, sometimes he’s a jerk”

And laying his finger to the side of his nose,
To the TV cameras he saluted as he rose;
He sprang to his feet, to Carl Rove gave a whistle,
And away they all flew, like fuzz atop a thistle.

I heard him exclaim, as the motorcade drove out of sight,
“Feliz Navidad to all, and to all a goodnight!”

Note: This poem is written for the children, teens, young adults and families that my wife and I have had the privilege to live life with in Santa Ana, CA.

T’was the month after Christmas
And is it my imagination?
Another year has passed,
Ignoring the innocent victims of undocumented immigration.

The national obsession remains,
A focus on the border.
Who will take up the cause,
Of the blameless children caught in this disorder?

Senator Hatch introduced the Dream Act,
More than a year ago.
Without Congressional support,
Our hope has vacillated to and fro.

I was only five,
When momma took me from my bed.
“We’re going to a better place,”
Is all I can remember that she said.

Papa carried my little brother.
Mama held my little sister.
They put a wad of napkins in my pocket,
“In case anyone gets a blister.”

We wandered for several weeks.
At night, I slept inside crates.
One day we arrived at my cousin’s house.
Papa said, “We’re home, in the United States.”

That was years ago,
My brothers and sisters, we all went to school.
We’ve obeyed every law, pledged our nations flag,
Always followed the golden rule.

Recently an employer confronted me with,
Something I didn’t anticipate.
“Because you’re not a citizen,
I cannot give you a job!” and slammed the gate.

My club at school won an award for academic achievement,
They traveled to a regional competition by plane.
I had to stay at home.
With no I.D. they wouldn’t let me go. Now isn’t this insane?

Everyday the mailbox is crammed with letters,
Colleges and Universities are after me.
Because of my academic performance,
There’s a competition to get me to enroll to obtain my degree.

Once again, the cruel truth,
Awakens me from my slumber.
I throw the applications in the garbage,
As they require a Social Security number.

My friends all drive cars,
Me? I take the bus.
I’m the one with tears in my eyes,
What did I ever do to cause such a fuss?

Nobody asked my opinion.
Nobody requested my consent.
I was a child when they brought me here.
I had no ability to dissent.

I feel like a prisoner
Locked in a cell, unable to participate.
Yet, I’ve committed no crime whatsoever.
Come on America! Open the gate!

How can innocent children be held responsible?
For the actions of others, to which they never did consent?
The pledge “liberty and justice for all,”
This is certainly not what they meant.

My prayer is a simple one,
For the year two-thousand and six.
Congress must provide us with access to citizenship.
The ongoing injustice to innocent children is the issue America must fix.