Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico is my favorite city in the world, after Los Angeles. Affectionately referred to as TJ by those who have experienced the magic of it, it holds a special place in my heart. To call it beautiful would be half a lie and half a truth. It is not beautiful in the pristine sense of many polished cities. It looks more run-down than neighboring San Diego. However, the experience I had there, learning about the issue of immigration, with the people I met on the trip--it makes TJ a place with its own beauty. I even had thoughts of living there after graduating from college.

That’s where I check my privilege. As an American, I’ve grown up assuming that I can move anywhere in the world without a hassle, just because I want to.

I had never thought that I couldn’t do that, and to be real, I still think I can. But this is a privilege that not everyone has extended to them.

Immigration is a human rights issue. If you’re Catholic, it is also a pro-life issue when migrant deaths are so prevalent, health care rights are restricted and people are targeted and killed in hate crimes.

Yet, it is not simply just something to discuss. What gets blurred in debates that are anti-immigrant in tone is the human aspect of the whole situation. The Ignacio Companions trip to Tijuana is what drove home that point for me. For the first time, I was able to put a face to Border Patrol and to the migrants whom we hear so many incorrect statements about. The trip made sure that we heard from both sides as to their concerns and goals. Meeting people in Tijuana also conveyed the point that Mexico is more than just immigration, and that all people are more than just their problems. Their concerns exist as part of them, but they have more defining characteristics than that. Regardless, when it comes to human rights, there is a right and wrong side to be on. The wrong side of the immigration issue is the one that relies on fear, erroneous opinions, bully tactics, and on shunning facts to the side.

There are plenty of hurtful myths (debunked) where immigration is concerned:

1. Immigrants are here to steal your jobs.

2. Immigrants increase the crime rate.

3. Immigrants don’t pay taxes.

4. Most immigration today comes from Mexico. (Where it actually comes from)

5. A wall, other than the one we already have, is necessary (ni una muerte mas, reforma ya) (ThinkProgress, Wall Street Journal, America's Berlin Wall).

6. You can tell an immigrant by looking at them.

7. There is such a thing as an illegal alien/

I know other people have already handled one through five for me.

So, let’s go to six through seven.

SB1070 of Arizona and copycat bills like it give police permission to detain anyone that they assume is undocumented. The problem with this is that people rely on their sight, which plays into their prejudices. Undocumented people, which only constitutes 11 million people within the United States population of almost 320 million, contain people from all nations and continents. Whether this be Mexico, a Latin American country, Canada, Europe, Africa or Asia, relying on sight to choose people for a search is problematic, racist, bigoted, and disgusting (I like to call it like it is. What’s up PC team). So, if you think you can distinguish an undocumented immigrant by just looking at them, check yourself real quick.

There is no such thing as an illegal alien. Use this term and sound antiquated and prejudiced. No human being is illegal. They exist. Their existence cannot be invalidated, no matter how much you wish they weren’t there. If this term is around because people denounce the action of migrating without documents as illegal, then refer to the action in that manner. Not the person. Going from a speech that Diana, a fellow Loyola Marymount lion, gave, we do not refer to people in jail as “illegals." We also do not refer to people who shoplift as felons. Crossing the border without proper authorization is a misdemeanor. Yet, people refer to undocumented immigrants as criminals and felons. The language does not reflect the action, and it erases the humanity of the person.

It also refuses to acknowledge why most immigrants seek to come to the United States. Even though it’s already been stated that undocumented immigrants of many nations can be found here, let’s refocus on Mexico -- since when politicians and friends talk about “illegal immigration”, they mean Mexico.

A wall, ignorant a suggestion as it is, does not reverse time to where the North American Free Trade Agreement was never passed. NAFTA has done a great deal of damage to the Mexican economy and to the opportunities present for its workers. In the words of activist Enrique Morones, founder of the Border Angels, NAFTA “allowed commerce to cross borders but not people…[it] increased poverty for small farmers in Mexico, who couldn’t compete with U.S agribusiness…” (The Power of One: History of the Border Angels, 43).

The main motivation for immigration is economic opportunity. As myth-busted earlier, this doesn’t remove opportunities for native-born Americans. It actually has a positive correlation to a general increase in wages for American citizens and to an overall boost to the economy. How about that, huh?

Back in Tijuana, during our reflection on the third day, we were asked to give a “snapshot moment” that affected us.

In my diary, I wrote about being in an ice-cream parlor and watching friends sit there and joke around with one another. However, I forgot about that moment until I went back and re-read my entry.

One thing that I never forgot was that as I was sitting at Friendship Park, looking at all of the murals on the Tijuana side of the fence, a man passed by and sat down next to me. I couldn’t speak much Spanish whenever I visited, and he didn’t speak English, but we tried to communicate anyway. Although our conversation wasn’t long and we hardly said anything to each other, it still felt full of so much presence to one another. It was a moment of shared humanity and companionship.

A moment of a girl from the United States and a man from Mexico acting like the neighbors that we are.

A snapshot phrase:

During a talk on immigration at Casa del Migrante in TJ, I asked a man if there was one thing he would want people to know about immigration, what would it be?

He answered, “human beings.”