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Witnessing Original Sin at Tornillo Detention Center

7/9/2018

5 Comments

 
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I am returning home from El Paso after yesterday's demonstration in front of the Tornillo Detention Center where some 200 children are locked up. A recent Washington Post editorial castigates the Trump Administration for its failure in reuniting the immigrant children with their parents. Rather than owning its failures, the Administration has complained about the court order mandating the reuniting of the children as being too strict.


According to the Post,  the "original sin" of the Administration was the cruelty of separating the children from their parents in the first place. However,  I would say the "original sin" was the failure of the Republican party to immediately condemn Trump when he launched his campaign with a vicious attack upon immigrants. Theses attacks continued and unfortunately found traction among some voters.

Having founded his campaign on anti-immigrant rhetoric, it is not surprising that his minions would not hesitate to tear infants and toddlers from their mothers' arms. It is not surprising that the Administration would not even bother to keep the records necessary for the eventual reunification of the families.

I was proud to be able to represent the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd at the demonstration. For decades,  the Sisters of the Good Shepherd have served those who arrived in our country, frequently without material resources.  But those immigrants eventually made America great. Trump did not make America great again. Rather his actions are a stain on our history of being a compassionate, welcoming nation.

5 Comments

On the Road on the Border

7/6/2018

2 Comments

 
Currently I am in flying from Washington DC en route to El Paso, Texas to participate in a peaceful demonstration in front of the Tornillo Detention Center. I will be representing the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. 

Some 200 children are being held in the detention center as "alien unaccompanied minors." Many are "unaccompanied" solely because they have been forcibly separated from their parents. 

Aside from representing the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, I have personal reasons.  Before I was born, my father filed for divorce from my mother. Possibly for economic reasons,  it was the Great Depression, during the divorce proceedings my two older brothers were placed in a foster home while I was placed in a state nursery. Growing up, I lived in different foster homes.

Overall I was well treated. Yet deep in my psyche, I know the pain of separation. As many others, I respond viscerally to the reports of the Trump Administration decision to separate children from their parents at the border. While supposedly the Trump policy has been changed, approximately 2,000 children still remain locked up in places such as the Tornillo Detention Center. 

The poet W.H. Auden said, "All I have is a voice to undo the folded lie." Lacking great political power, I can join my voice,  my presence, with other people, to challenge the Trump administration as it tears children from their mothers.

If we do not push back against what is evil, the evil of the Trump administration will become accepted as normal. This must not happen. Auden ends his stanza with, "We must love one another or die."

--------------
Learn through this CBS News report that Tornillo is NOT subject to health and welfare inspections like nearly every other detention center.


2 Comments

    Author

    Lawrence E. Couch serves as the director and lobbyist for the National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.


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