Michael Swickard
While Antonio Diaz Chacon is a fine human being and an exceptional credit to his country, Mexico, he has to answer for being in our country without legal status
A real live hero lives in Albuquerque. This hero witnessed something bad happening to a young child and only had seconds to save the child. He did not hesitate to put himself in mortal danger in her rescue.
At the time this happened, there was no way for him to know if he was going to be killed trying to save this child, but he selflessly threw caution to the wind and did a really fine thing that people will remember all of his life.
Like others, I want to say that Antonio Diaz Chacon is a fine human being and an exceptional credit to his country, Mexico. And therein is the problem. Diaz Chacon is not in the United States with legal status even though he is married to an American and has a job as a mechanic. He did not follow our laws of immigration when he came to our country illegally several years ago.
Again, in this case I am ever so happy he came here, and he did the right thing in saving the young child from a kidnapper.
Diaz Chacon probably had some trepidation about his legal status when he decided to take on the kidnapper and rescue the child. For the record, I pledge to help him in any way I can because he is such an inspiration to us all. Also for the record, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that he made the right choice to rescue the child despite the fact that his rescue actually put him in danger because his legal status became known.
Quite a dilemma
Diaz Chacon does leave us with quite a dilemma, because we have very specific laws about our requirements for living legally in our country. Does his good deed, done selflessly, negate the laws of our country?
Also, he is being used by political figures all over the political landscape as the poster boy either for amnesty or enhanced enforcement of immigration laws. I am sorry that these people are so shallow as to use him for their own political agendas.
Oh, he does not have to worry very much about politicians calling for his deportation due to his lack of legal status. There is no one in Congress or the New Mexico government with the nerve to insist that the law of the land be followed. Is it good or bad that the law, which is very specific, cannot and/or will not be followed?
The problem is that our country is full of people who on the one hand proclaim that the United States of America is a nation of laws – it is one of the most said things about our country and in some people’s minds is what separates us from many other nations – but, as soon as some people proclaim that this is a nation of laws, then many of these same people say: But we only follow those laws we want to follow and we flaunt all other laws because we can. The founders of our country envisioned that we would follow the laws or change the laws, but we Americans would not flaunt the laws. That is what happens in most Third World countries.
What now?
So how should we proceed? We must always act with our laws in mind, regardless of how much we want to flaunt them. Diaz Chacon has to answer for being in our country without legal status. He must be treated as we treat all other people who want to be part of our great nation. We cannot bend our laws just because of a great Hollywood storyline.
Perhaps he can be pardoned by the president and put to work as an American, taking his place beside everyone else. I would be honored to stand up for him. But I also stand for the laws of our nation, because flaunting the law makes his rescue somehow less. The kidnapping of a child is against the law. The entry into our country is against the law. Change the law, but do not flaunt the exercise of the law.
Diaz Chacon, a grateful nation honors you. Will you do us the honor of following our laws?
Swickard is co-host of the radio talk show News New Mexico, which airs from 6 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday on KSNM-AM 570 in Las Cruces and throughout the state through streaming. His e-mail address is michael@swickard.com.