We must pray and petition for some basic human compassion from President Donald Trump and congressional leaders concerning the 800,000 “Dreamers” who were brought to the U.S. as children and whose futures hang in the balance.
They were encouraged by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to dare to hope for a path to citizenship. These good folks face deportation to countries they have never known if the administration’s attempt to cancel DACA in March is allowed to stand (a federal judge has issued a temporary stay of the DACA cancellation). Congress must restore their hope.
But what is the difference between deporting the “Dreamers” and deporting the parents of kids who have also grown up here as the children of immigrants granted temporary protected status for decades? That includes about 190,000 children of the 200,000 granted such status from El Salvador. The Trump administration has canceled their status, forcing deportation by September 2019.
Temporary protected status also has been canceled for similarly situated immigrants from Nicaragua, Haiti and Sudan and will likely soon include those from Honduras. These are our neighbors and friends, hard-working people just trying to build a better life for their children.
The cruelty of these unnecessary actions is on daily display in airports and Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers around the country. Children are being left with relatives, torn tearfully from deported parents’ arms; families are visiting their loving father in a detention center or in a sanctuary church; Somalian refugees are being shipped to that war-torn country chained like human chattel on a plane ride from hell.
These scenes do not reflect the values of this country — the ones inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. There is no good reason for this cruelty, other than to please the disproportionately influential portion of the right-wing, white-voter base in the Republican Party that wants their America to be whiter, a sentiment given explicit expression in Trump’s call for banning people from what he reportedly called “shithole countries” in Latin American and Africa and his preference for more immigrants from places like Norway.
We are fortunate to have a congressman, Jim McGovern, who is championing the rights of those affected by these inhumane, racist policy decisions. And we are fortunate to have folks in this area like the Pioneer Valley Workers Center, the ACLU, and the communities of faith who have offered sanctuary.
To help support one local family, that of Lucio Perez in sanctuary at the First Congregational Church of Amherst, the Leverett Community Chorus, under the direction of Anne Louise White, will hold a benefit concert at the Jewish Community of Amherst at 4 p.m. Jan. 28.
We can show what compassion truly looks like by supporting such efforts locally and pressing Congress to save the “Dreamers” and reverse the loss of temporary protected status which is breaking up families and causing undue hardship. Our better angels know right from wrong. Let us give them wings.
Tom Gardner, of Amherst, is a professor of communication at Westfield State University.