Honor the Flight to Freedom : Refugees: Consider their ‘heart’s agony’ and courage; don’t send them back, but find them safe havens, somewhere.

Nearly 700 Chinese refugees from three boats were returned this past week to mainland China with the help of the Mexican government, so that U.S. authorities could keep their hands clean. But is our conscience clean? Mexico at first refused to have anything to do with this affair. Only after tough diplomatic negotiations was the United States able to impose this unpleasant job on this reluctant neighbor. But our dilemma is far from an end.

Even after screening by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization officials, can we be sure there are no legitimate political dissidents among the people being sent back? It goes without saying that they will surely be persecuted by the communist regime. Furthermore, even those who have nothing to do with politics and thus cannot be deemed dissidents are certain to receive some kind of punishment.

In this country, three voices arise. The very generous voice says: “Let them in, and out of the detention.” The angry voice shouts: “Close our borders; we cannot afford to have any more immigrants.” The moderate voice says: “Political dissidents, yes; fortune-seekers, no.”

First, what is the rationale behind the perception that political dissidents are better and should be more welcome than those seeking asylum for economic reasons? It is doubtful that all political dissidents are lovers of democracy and liberty. Equally questionable is the concept that fortune-seekers are unworthy of respect and that many of them are potential prostitutes, drug-dealers or other criminals.

Second, is it so easy to differentiate between those who are truly coming for political asylum and those who are purely seeking fortune? After all, is it possible for historians to calculate the percentages of political dissidents and fortune-seekers among the forefathers who set the cornerstone of this great country?

As one who emigrated from mainland China, I have sympathy toward all those who want to escape that regime. I know the heart’s agony when the secret desire for freedom seems to be an impossible dream or lunatic ravings. The more your heart yearns for something, the more its impossibility gnaws your heart; and the more the impossibility of desire gnaws your heart, the more your heart yearns.

I can never accurately count how many times in the 30 years from 1949 to 1979 that I stood by the waterfront of Shanghai with a fantasy of swimming across the ocean. Anywhere beyond the reach of communist power was good enough for me, albeit the most desirable place on this planet being America. I still remember how the official announcement of Henry Kissinger’s first visit to China stimulated me to climb to the top of my house two hours before his scheduled arrival in Beijing and stare into the sky to enjoy the mere idea of Kissinger’s airplane flying over my head.

I captured the great opportunity of that very short “loose” period in the wake of the establishment of Sino-U.S. relations and legally landed in this country at the end of 1979. I am now proud to be a citizen of this great country. Nonetheless, suppose I missed my first chance and were now still living in mainland China. You bet I would struggle desperately to board one of those boats. Whatever risk or probable tragic consequence could in no way deter me.

Despite this personal feeling, I, as a U.S. citizen, am committed to think about this nation’s interests. Politically, in order to maintain the integrity of this nation’s sovereignty we have to control the borders. Economically and socially, can this country afford to accept all those who desire to come? However, as a nation made up of the descendants of so many courageous immigrants, it would be sacrilegious to the legacy of the passengers on the Mayflower in 1620 if we send all the refugees back to a system that forced them to risk drowning in the ocean to escape. No matter how harsh the U.S. immigration laws, and no matter how many thorns and traps on the way, there will certainly be newcomers. What should we do?

I can think of only one alternative. The United States should make concerted worldwide efforts with other free nations to allocate some undeveloped spaces in the world that would provide havens for the current and future illegal immigrants. Let them get the freedom they desire, and let them work out their own future. If they want, they can work on their own version of the Mayflower Compact there, create their own Bill of Rights and even build their own United States there.