In protest of prison camps for children, I’ve read several articles about the Central American refugee crisis at our southern border.
Many Americans may not be aware that the imprisonment of children continues unabated in the detention center in Clint, Texas, where hundreds of children, some as young as five months, are incarcerated.
Frightened and helpless, these children are living in squalid conditions, unbathed, underfed and treated cruelly. Guards have even taken away the beds of some of them. With no hope of ever seeing their parents again, every day is a never-ending nightmare.
Imagine our own children in such circumstances, frightened and alone, with no loving adult to hold them, no one to protect them. Inconceivable.
None of us would let this happen to our kids. But the parents of these children are unable to intervene. They are being held in prison-like conditions themselves, living the agony of not knowing where their kids are or if they will ever see them again.
What kind of a place is this where children are made to suffer, to pay for their parent’s attempt to bring their families to a safer country? This kind of place is our nation, our government that is committing the crime of torturing these children.
Who will speak for these small people who cannot speak for themselves? Let us not turn away, unwilling to think about the unthinkable. Instead, let us raise our voices in protest on behalf of these children.
In the eyes of God, they are all our own.
Margaret Halbeisen
Amherst