Close up the borders
restore law and order
I thought I had nothing to fear
Well I guess I was wrong
to think I belonged
after being here for twenty-five years
I was working the fields
for America's meals
picking their fruit from the vine
Now I find myself here
among the "disappeared"
where no one even knows I'm alive
Like a blind man looking for a glimmer of hope
or a man without hands at the end of his rope
God only knows what they'll do with me
But if they won't give me freedom
or give back my life
they can give me the gallows
or give me a knife
and I, yes I, will set myself free
They call me "illegal"
like some rabid beagle
and that's why I'm locked in this pen
Well, I had a family
dirt poor, but happy
and I might not see them again
'Cause I'm doing time
for committing the crime
of working sunup to sundown
where the last shall be first
while others are cursed
to be born with skin colored brown
Like a blind man looking for a glimmer of hope
or a man without hands at the end of his rope
God only knows what they'll do with me
But if they won't give me freedom
or give back my life
they can give me the gallows
or give me a knife
and I, yes I, will set myself free
If you could come near me
and if you could hear me
behind this cold iron door
Tell me what would you do
if not me, but you
were headed to El Salvador
I was just a migrant
not criminal or violent
But that's not what they'd have you believe
Well, they won't be protected
until the felon they elected
is made to trade places with me
Crosses and bibles, preachers of hate
paving the way for a police-state
where it will happen to you like it happened to me
Well I might be in prison
but they are in darkness
and when the end comes
they will be where their heart is
and I, yes I, will be free