The U.S. should be a welcoming place
Tighter U.S. security and greater scrutiny of foreign visitors are not stopping the world from coming to Santa Fe this weekend in a glorious show of global harmony. The International Folk Art Market | Santa Fe is the antithesis of a U.S. that fears the world, desires to remain in isolation and keeps out Muslims and other “different” types of visitors and immigrants. What has happened in Santa Fe for the past 14 years — the coming together of master artists from all over the world — is a better version of the United States than one where foreigners are viewed as suspect.
The market shows that the U.S. can be an exception in the best way, by being the place where people of all cultures gather and share knowledge and their common humanity. Artists and musicians from Cuba are here, building relationships that can only help our two countries. Considering our past with Cuba — and the recent thawing of relations and the current president’s disavowal of closer ties — those bonds are crucial to the future.
Folk artists skilled enough and fortunate enough to be accepted at market will return to their countries feeling better about the United States, its people, and importantly, taking with them money that they then will use to build better lives for themselves, their families and their communities.
Limiting visits by foreigners because of fear or suspicion is bad policy for the United States. This nation must remain the country where all the world seeks to visit — some for a short time and others to live — because we are and remain a nation of immigrants, no matter how much the people in charge are trying to change that proud history.
As the folk art market was getting underway, this is what has been unfolding in Albuquerque. Kadhim Al-bumohammed, an Iraqi man facing detention and deportation, instead decided to seek sanctuary. Al-bumohammed, 64, had been told to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials with a packed bag, likely to be sent back to his home country of Iraq. He has not lived there since 1994. His family believes he would face persecution in Iraq because he aided the U.S. military during the Persian Gulf War in 1990-91 and later taught language and cultural awareness at California military bases. In Iraqi eyes, he is a collaborator.
Al-bumohammed can be deported — he has misdemeanor convictions on domestic violence charges — and the U.S. is pushing to kick out foreign residents with any criminal black marks. Such a blanket action, though, does not leave room for human compassion or even for rewarding those who risked their lives to help our troops overseas. Al-bumohammed faces serious health conditions, including having limited kidney function. He takes oxygen because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and must take medicine daily.
Sending him back to Iraq — which only recently began accepting deportees — could be a death sentence. That seems unjust. Until recently, he could not be sent home despite a criminal record. He can be deported because Iraq agreed to accept deportees as a trade; the United States sends back undesirables, and Iraq does not remain on the list of countries named in President Donald Trump’s travel ban.
The United States should have the dexterity to set a general policy — yes, seek to remove dangerous criminals — without sweeping everyone with misdemeanors away, especially people who served U.S. interests and put themselves in danger while doing so. Immigration policy can be a set of broad goals and principles, while still leaving leeway for common sense and compassion. Such a policy could leave in place those who are no risk to their neighbors and who, like Al-bumohammed, need medical care they likely will not receive in their home country. He has a wife who is a naturalized citizen and four U.S.-born children. We do not need to tear this family apart in order to keep the United States safe.
A great attraction of the United States to a world torn by war and strife, is that despite our differences, the people of this nation have learned to live together, more or less amicably. We remain a country where citizens of different religions, political viewpoints and ethnic backgrounds can disagree yet still talk to each other. This is our best asset, one that can coexist with protecting borders and keeping Americans safe — if our leaders do not go overboard in restricting immigration, deporting so-called undesirables and generally turning away from the world. The president himself had to intervene to ensure that a team of girls from Afghanistan would be admitted to the United States for a robotics competition. How in the world did anyone ever deny a visa to these young women?
As we are seeing this weekend in Santa Fe — the market runs until 5 p.m. today, so look for yourself — there is strength when the world comes together. We forget this at our peril.