Futbol Used to be Soccer in the United States

In September, my son was invited to play on a soccer team as a result of being noticed while playing for a summer league team last summer.  His new team practices several times weekly in the afternoons at a local municipal soccer facility.

Normally, I would drop him off and pick him up at the end of practice. We have been going to this facility for years. Because I was interested in his renewed enthusiasm and I began to stay and watch his practices. And it didn’t take long before I noticed that something was different. Just an odd feeling in the back of my mind.

This facility has many fields and like many city parks, fields are in short supply and high demand. So, generally there is at least one group playing or practicing on every field. During one practice I decided to take a walk around the park to get some exercise.  And as I walked it hit me like a ton of bricks what that feeling I had been sensing was about.  More people were speaking Spanish than were speaking English. It was a very odd feeling, and I must admit, not a very good one. 

As I finished my walk and returned to watch the end of practice, another father had arrived to pick up his son. This father happens to be a Deputy Sheriff. We began talking and I just asked him, “Do you think all of these people out here speaking Spanish are legal immigrants or American citizens?” And he just shrugged and said, “No”.

I really don’t know this dad very well, so I just let it drop. But it bothers me that illegal immigration has become a non-issue and an accepted way of life in the United States. And it particularly bothers me that law enforcement has the same attitude. It is not right. Our borders and homeland are supposed to be sovereign and protected. Maybe I should have written and published this piece in Spanish.