I am what some would call a news junkie—I consume news almost constantly. I read NPR (National Public Radio) every single day and the New Yorker once a week. Additionally, I regularly engage with scholarly journals. My habit of reading NPR daily began in sixth grade because I believed it was my civic duty to understand my nation. I felt compelled to grasp the issues that tore lives apart and do my part in addressing them.
About a year after I started this routine, I came across a story about a fire at the southern border. The flames were allowed to engulf the refugees, and no effort was made to save them. This event haunted me. A few years later, I read about how the state government in Texas installed barbed wire and placed buoys in the water to deliberately endanger migrants, causing some to drown. I saw this as an act of barbarism. It struck me how easily it could have been my family making that perilous journey if we had simply been born in a different part of the world. I imagined the horror of having my parents detained or deported simply because they lacked a piece of paper. It was a nightmare scenario, and I felt that such actions were profoundly unjust.
Now, whenever I open the NPR app on my phone, I am confronted with stories that deepen my sorrow. Recently, I read that ICE can now legally enter schools and churches to detain immigrants. My thoughts turned to my friends with immigrant parents and the constitutional statute that grants them citizenship, which now hangs in the balance. I thought of elementary school students—my younger siblings’ classmates—and imagined the constant threat their families face of being torn apart. The pain and fear these children must live with each day fill me with anguish.
I struggle to understand the concept of people being deemed “illegal.” The borders we have were drawn and fought over with blood; they were not here before us. The land I live on once belonged to Native Americans, who lived, thrived, and called this place home. If anything, it seems to me that the theft of land is what is truly illegal. I cannot comprehend the hatred some people harbor toward immigrants, who have done nothing wrong. Even Ronald Reagan acknowledged that immigration would inevitably rise as climate change rendered parts of the world uninhabitable. The country was aware that increased migration was likely, yet it did nothing to prepare. Instead of addressing the root causes—like pollution and resource depletion—the nation has stoked fear of immigrants. Rather than extending help, it has perpetuated a cycle of fear and scapegoating.
My fear, however, is different from that of many others. I am afraid that ICE officers will enter schools and drag small children away. There are thousands of undocumented children in the U.S.—are they dangerous? Take, for example, the six-year-old boy whose parents made a difficult decision to give him a better opportunity. He doesn’t yet understand why they took such risks; he may not even understand how the weather works. He is just a child. He is not “illegal.” On Sundays, he watches cartoons with his family and is learning how to ride a bike. He is human, just like you and me. He is no different from me. I do not deserve to remain in this country any more than he does. No child deserves to be dragged out of school by strangers. No one does.
I have often been told that I see the world in black and white, but perhaps I simply see it as right and wrong. Murder, hatred, and the scapegoating of vulnerable people are wrong. I struggle to understand how such actions can be tolerated. Perhaps my perspective is limited, or perhaps it is rooted in justice rather than fear.
How districts are responding after Trump cleared the way for immigration arrests at schools
https://www.npr.org/hereandnow/2025/01/27/immigration-arrests-schools
Drowning deaths of several migrants at US-Mexico border heightens tensions even more https://one.npr.org/i/1225446403:1225446404
Migrant deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border hit a record high, in part due to drownings https://one.npr.org/i/1125638107:1125859546
