Dreamers

January 30st, 2018

The following letter from me will be published by the Chicago Tribune tomorrow in the Voice of the People section. It will also be in the Racine Journal times and the Capital Times (Madison, WI).

“Dreamers are being used as pawns in a political game. Trump and his Republican allies are the most obvious manipulators of these young people, but the Democrats don’t have their hands clean either. Approximately 800,000 persons who were brought here illegally as children are facing an uncertain future because American politicians insist on using them in a cynical power struggle. I am convinced that very few of the legislators in Washington actually care about these immigrants. I’m sure that Trump doesn’t care. These kids just represent another issue that can be used to fire up a base.”

“I know some Dreamers. I know them as friends. I know them as co-workers. I know them as human beings who have the same fears and hopes that I do. These youths want to build a life in America, the only country that most of them have ever known. They deserve to be treated with decency. They deserve to be treated with respect. They are just like me. They are just like you.”

“Right now, these Dreamers, through no fault of their own, are living in constant fear. I wouldn’t want to live in fear. Would you?”