Remembering our fallen immigrant soldiers.

As we remember all the fallen soldiers on this memorial day, let us not forget all those who have died to fight for a country that has denied them citizenship and has tried to deport their families.

After September 11, 2001, President George W Bush signed a July 2002 executive order that made undocumented people join the armed forces and be eligible for expedited US citizenship. Because of this, many people enlisted. Among these include undocumented Guatemalan, Lance Corporal José Gutiérrez, who was the second solider to die in Iraq; Mexicans José Angel Garibay, a 21-year-old corporal who died in Nasiriya, and Private Francisco Martínez, who drowned when his tank fell in to the Euphrates River.

These men are a very small representation of the approximate 65,000 immigrant soldiers who have or are currently fighting in the Iraq War. (2008) Yet, our government and Americans many times forget these women and men who left everything behind to serve in the armed forces. As these men and women fight in Iraq, the government is very busy trying to deport their family members; parents, wives, grandparents, you name it. At the same time, many American xenophobes are busy trying to kick immigrants out of this country.

Here are a few words to the US government and to our xenophobic Americans:

To the government: Stop terrorizing families, particularly those who have family members serving in our armed forces. Our undocumented members of the armed forces are doing what they promised they would do. Now keep your part and grant them and their family members legalization.

To Americans: Let us not forget our immigrant personal who have fought in the war, especially those who are in place of us. While many of us sit back in our country, there are thousands of undocumented people giving their lives, serving all over the world. Stop causing havoc in our cities and trying to put fear in the lives of so many Americans. Immigrants want to be Americans, they are showing this, particularly those who are fighting in the Iraq War.

To Conclude, please watch this spoken word by Paul Flores.