On the 342nd Birthday of this Country

I have purposely not addressed anything political in my blogs on this website. I have friends who support Trump. I do not want to offend them. I do not want to taint these writings with rhetoric which might be inflammatory.  I want to maintain a place, however small, however unknown to almost everybody, where topics will not be antagonistic. But, I feel I must write about my sadness, my horror, on the current detention of so-called illegal immigrants. I have been thoroughly sickened by this practice. 

Tomorrow we will celebrate Independence Day. This is the day we stand up and cheer this country. I cannot do that this year. I feel only sadness and regret for our treatment of immigrants in this country.

These people are not criminals. To enter this country without “permission” for the first time is at worst a misdemeanor. And that is for the parents. The children are NOT criminals. 

“Oh,” but some say. “This is lawlessness.” But, to me, lawlessness implies burglars or murderers. Not a bunch of people who have done misdemeanors, like shoplifting or public intoxication. Must we detain these folk who have merely walked into our country uninvited, perhaps not even getting the time to explain their presence before carting them off, separating them from young children and incarcerating them for longer periods of time than we lock away many felons?

The damage this policy is doing to these children is unthinkable. Locking them up in substandard buildings, with scorpions, poisonous snakes, and other vermin. They have no privacy. No education. Substandard food.

And why have their mothers chosen to endure this? I cannot imagine what brought them here. They must know what they might face when they arrive. The political unrest in Central America. The gang violence. The abuse of police and government. Domestic issues. Nobody would, on a whim, choose to walk three months through the obstacles lying between Central America and our southern border. 

Many of us our mothers or at least aunts, dear friends of young children. How can we sleep at night, knowing our country is doing this to children as precious as those we have raised ourselves. 

There are so many things our current president is doing I cannot condone. I value honesty and truth. I believe, deeply, in safety nets for our poorest, sickest citizens. I see no need to “cut taxes” for our richest people and corporations.

I am writing this at three a.m. I cannot sleep. This situation, for me, is unbearable. Something must change. At the very least, we must, we absolutely must, value children. How can we do anything else?

My pride in being an American is tarnished.