I've watched footage of immigrants, some who came to the U.S. as children and have lived here for decades, being separated from their children. For many, America is the only country they've ever known. Don't believe all the hype that only those being deported are felons. For some their only crime is being in America without the proper paperwork.
Watching those individuals and their families being forced apart brought to mind memories of something my father-in-law who suffered from Alzheimer's before his death once said. He often relived in the present past experiences and another history I'd never known had taken place on American soil. I could find no reference to many of the things he lived, witnessed and experienced. He was a living witness to a period in history many of use wouldn't recognize, and was never recorded, as not all history makes it to the history books and some remains hidden or even destroyed.
On that day, and a few others, I noticed my father-in-law, born in 1905, was worried about something. I said to him, "Papa, what's wrong? Are you feeling alright?" He couldn't always remember his son and only referred to me as daughter, because I referred to him as Papa (he never had a daughter), but he often relived in the present things from his past. Bad things. Horrible things.
As he begin to open up and talk about his past I realized he was reliving a part of history I'd never heard of before. He said to me, "Daughter, will they let the families stay together this time?" I asked, "Papa, what do you mean, this time?" He said the last time families were forced to leave they were separated. What last time or even this time I wasn't sure what he was talking about.
We know about the removal of Japanese, Italians, and Germans forced into internment camps during World War II, but was there another time in history where other families were forcefully removed from the communities, environments they'd come to know as home? Has what we're witnessing in 21st century taken place before? If so, who will be the next targets? Why is history being allowed to repeat itself? Are we as Americans, doomed to forever repeat history, and accept any progress as small temporary reprieves when others are feeling generous? When things are going their way? Then when the curtains part, we're forced to realize it's the same old America in a different setting?
Brenda Washington
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Where were all the bleeding heart liberals during the days when Obama signed off on deportations? I am so tired of hearing how these folks "did nothing wrong". From the moment they stepped on American soil they were breaking the law. I have no problem with legal immigration, I have worked with legal immigrants and I can tell you first hand they're more upset about illegal immigration than I am. They waited in line, did everything by the book and were proud to become an American.
The approximate cost to the American taxpayer is over $100 billion per year to provide for illegal immigrants. There are certainly other areas we could spend that money and secure our safety. Of course you're going to say they come here and do jobs Americans won't....they also come here and work jobs Americans in the trades are knocked out of because of the low pay the illegal will accept. That's on the employers and I feel strongly they should be locked up for taking advantage of the situation. I also think we could put a lot of Americans back to work and off the welfare system if we insisted they take a job they "think" is beneath them. I have a difficult time getting my arms around that, someone is too proud to work but not too proud to be on the welfare system.
Here in Tennessee you see it in the textile industry (what's left of it) but in border states it's all over. They take the jobs, the neighborhoods....they push carts down the sidewalks selling tamales and gum while their teenagers hook up with gangs because they don't want to work as hard as their parents when dealing drugs bring in more in a week than Mom or Dad make in a year.
Brenda, you don't know what those arrested have done. You don't know what laws have been broken and neither do I. I've been reading your opinions for years and one thing always stays the same, you constantly tie circumstances to slavery. We can learn from our past but let's not live there. All I know is it's time to rework the immigration policy of this country. Regan gave over three million amnesty and actually shut down the border....for about three days. Nothing else has been done until now and ICE is merely doing what the ever so popular Obama set in motion. Let's wait and see what will happen with a non-politician because we all know zero gets done with the career guy/gal.
Sue White