I was speaking with the woman at the front of the detention facility yesterday (I am typically the first one there for visitation). Her last name is Martinez, she's my age, with a super bubbly personality. A fresh face and ray of sunshine compared to some of the other people that work up there. She was saying, "You know, people are always mad at us because we work for ICE." She seemed a little defeated when saying those words. She went on to say they are just there to do their job and I completely get that. She agreed that the administration is just going for a money grab. Especially by taking people in who, in most cases, are only guilty of being here without papers.
Not ONCE have I ever thought the people at the facility were the enemy. We need to keep in mind that these people are human beings too. The ICE agents are more so the enemy. Even then... they are not the REAL enemy. WE ARE! Those of us who have the ability to elect officials and change the laws while changing the stigma. We are the creators of our own fait and unfortunately, for many of these families, we are the determiner of theirs. The decisions we make as voters, as AMERICANS can heavily impact these people. No one seems to give a damn about it until someone they know is effected. Then they realize how shitty it is. I'm not saying you have to change your ideology but we SHOULD ALL as HUMAN BEINGS be focused on voting for immigration reform. These people are not terrorists, they are not criminals (in most cases). They are me and you. They are people who fucked up once or twice. But that fuck up doesn't effect me. I would be able to go back out and find a job and carry on with life. Cesar had a misdemeanor DWI. I know some people that have multiple DWI's, it effects them yes, but they are not at risk for being told they have to leave the country they know.
How is this scale fair? How is it right to set most bonds over $4k? With no real
guidelines just how the judge is "feeling" that day. The lowest bond amount they are ALLOWED to give is $1500 but there is no maximum and there is no bar set for any case. So there is no way of truly gauging if you are getting fucked over or not. The point of this post is to show that WE CAN DO BETTER. Not just as American's but as HUMAN BEINGS. Please, think about me and this situation when you take to the polls in the next election. Don't change party values but think about what your candidates are saying. There is common ground available to make a decision that would be fair to all immigrants and their families.