My parents and I decided to spend Father's day attending the vigil held outside the warehouse "Ursula" being used as the Border Patrol Central Processing Center in McAllen Texas. When we arrived, we witnessed buses coming back and forth, holding of immigrants. Which the crowd chanted "We love you" in both English and Spanish. As we stood there among others, holding signs, we heard descriptions of what conditions of those detained had been kept from the few reporters having been granted access as they were coming out. It wasn't until later which the images of children on mats and the chain link cages where people are being detained has been shown on the news, validating what these reporters had described having witnessed. Before I go further, and for my tendency to digress I will say, for the last year I have kept silent in my opinions regarding the politics in the USA, mostly due to the fact that I am an Immigrant and my greencard is up for renewal soon. It may seem an unrational fear as I may be married to an american that served in the US Navy for nearly a decade with two sons, but even so there still exists a fragment of fear within me that if I express any views I hold regarding the state of american politics, that may come back to haunt me during the renewal process. For a few years now I have often used the excuse that "I'm a Canadian immigrant, I cannot vote so my opinions are irrelevent" to divert the topic when asked. Sometime this week while watching the news something in me snapped. I realize I cannot continue to remain silent while these abuses against children are going on so close to the place where I have called home for so many years. I finally told myself "I am an immigrant, and am one of the privileged few immigrants who because of my appearance have never had to have dealt with questioning my vaildity of being in the USA". " Not once have I gone to a job interview and been asked to provide documented evidence of my immigration status, as many other people I know, and love who just so happen to have been born with darker skin than I do have been asked for". The only thing that even hints to the fact I may not be American, is my strange Newfoundland accent that slips up every so often, which leaves people bewildered as to where I may be from but never to the degree which brings it into question. My husband is Hispanic of Mexican decent, as our two sons are what we call "Canexicans" so I hold a respect for the culture I have been immersed in living so close to the Mexican boarder and in many aspects married into. Knowing there are children being held in these warehouses, caged as animals, sleeping on mats that even my dogs have more comfortable beds sleep, all while seperated from their parents is disturbing on so many levels, even were I not a parent it would be hard not to empthasize, to think what it must be like for these familes. I think of being a kid and losing sight of your parent at a store, how that felt as a child we all felt that before, for these kids it is that a million times over, as the parents fearing for the wellbeing of their children. What I witnessed yesterday was a mix of emotions from many people from all walks of life, as was the stange behaviour of the goverment officials that kept going back and forth to get a look at those of us protesting from across the narrow street (including boarder patrol agents with camera recording vigil from across the street). History has shown us what the act of separating children from their families can lead, and as humans who share this small space orbiting within the universe, we cannot allow this to stand, we already know where this can lead. This isn't even really a political problem, it is a human problem.
What I am am getting at with this post is to say, if any of you here are able to attend a vigil as this was, or protest and haven't yet done so for reasons similar to those reasons I have expressed above in my post here. I urge you to so. It is too important not to, and the consequences for not doing so, can esculate into something even more dire than what it already has.