Across oceans ashimmer with longing and mountains

Impassable but for the bright blaze of hope

We came.

The lure of golden shores and neon-nighted streets

Drawing us ever closer

America’s caramel breath welcoming us.

But those crystal caves of opportunity and security

Held snakes, roguishly coiled in their wait

For those who were different.

And like the serpent in the Garden of Eden,

So too did they strike us down, for no apparent sin

Other than their own greed and lust for power.

They said to us,

“This is not just our land, but yours.

Nuestra casa es su casa.”

Yet their words betrayed them;

They did not want to share their bounty, and instead

Rounded us up like cattle to face the consequences of our crime.

Like trespassers and murderers

We were expelled, the argent augmentation of our ambitions

Snuffed out forever.

They said to us: “this is the land of opportunity,

A melting pot of acceptance,”

But no welcome has come here.

And so, let freedom ring.

Let freedom ring from the detention centers of Tucson.

Let freedom ring from the mile-high fence separating our sons and daughters from us.

Let freedom ring from the city slums and crumbling governments we must now return to.

Let “freedom” ring.