Death at the Border: America's Nightmare

By Mildred Robertson

The Trump administration’s wanton disregard for human life is evidenced by the death of two young children taken into custody at the border; sacrificed on the altar of border security. I am fairly certain that these losses do not weigh heavily on the conscience of Donald Trump; but I wonder does Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, or other Trump administration officials who have implemented these dastardly immigration processes and procedures have night visitations by these young innocents. I wonder are they haunted by the faces of these children whose only crime was to be born to parents fleeing oppression and persecution.

America was founded on the premise that we are a nation of immigrants, welcoming all who dream of liberty and prosperity and are willing to work for it. That is what these migrants represent. They, like our founders, are fleeing oppression and will face whatever peril awaits them for the opportunity to breathe free.

The Trump administration has stifled their attempts to find a better life with immoral policies and procedures that put lives at risk and corrupt our national legacy of equal justice and compassion for the poor and disenfranchised. Rather we have become the epitome of the “Ugly Americans,” who show disdain for the rest of the world; hoarding their wealth and shutting themselves off from everyone else.

How immoral is it to dump water in the desert to deny migrants a life-saving drink?  How depraved is it to jail children in freezing cages while denying them the comfort of a mother’s or father’s embrace. How morally bankrupt is it to deny a sick child food, water and basic medical attention? How pitiful is it to let children die in your care simply because they are poor and brown…and then say that it is their fault for daring to make the journey?

We often paint America with vibrant colors, leaving out all the darkness that is our heritage. But in order to see the real vision of who we are, we must include the darkness that is the “Trial of Tears,” the belly of the slave ship, the strips laid by the master’s overseer, the redlining of our neighborhoods, the inequitable justice system and the belief that somehow, white people are more entitled to the liberties offered by our constitution. Despite the incongruity of the lives they led and the words they spoke, the Founders said “All men are created equal.” It is a legacy that we declare we live by.

But that legacy is once again being tainted by the darkness of our weaker, meaner, more selfish selves. No child should be put at peril while in our care. No mother should experience the terror of having her child ripped from her arms with no assurance that she will ever see him or her again. No person that attempts the lawful act of immigrating to this country should be criminalized, victimized, and left for dead.

I do not know how Kirstjen Nielsen sleeps at night. I know that I do not sleep well. I know that I fall asleep at night, and wake in the morning wondering how we can redeem the soul of this nation.  We are trapped in a national nightmare. When we will awaken?