A local man has worked for us several times. After the first very good painting job he did for us we brought him back twice, the last time to paint our shop building. When friends came over while he was working I took the group to see his work trailer, a marvel. Paint hoses, ladders, extension cords, every bit of equipment had a place and all of it was organized and clean. He showed up on time, worked hard, and cleaned up before he left each day. When he was finished one friend was so impressed she hired him to paint her house. I don’t usually hug household workers but before he left we hugged.
He held a green card. Last January he had an appointment in Seattle to sign “immigration papers.” He arrived as requested and was handcuffed and arrested on the spot. He has been in a detention center since.
I don’t know the details of his case but I do know this is a decent, honorable, hard-working man. He has a wife, children, and extended family. The adults all work and work hard. If they’re guilty of anything it is of seeking a better life.
Plenty can be said about immigration, on all sides. But at the end of the day it’s a story about human lives. I’d like to think that we can treat people better than this.
Handcuffed and arrested? He was trumped? ☹
People should be treated much better than that. This man certainly deserves to be.
On Andy’s blog, in reference to a homeless person, I made a comment which I think pertains to your post as well: The greatness of a society or nation consists not of its wealth or its arms but in the way it treats people like your immigrant or those who have lost their homes.
Unfortunately, we have too many folks who hate the down-and-out or the immigrant and have been deluded into thinking that greatness means wearing a red cap in honor of the orange-headed monster.
Seeking a better life in the US is just not the same anymore with the current administration. There are good hard working families that are trying to make life better for themselves but people don’t care. Arrest and deport them is the cry. I would like to ask one of these anti-immigration people what they would do in that situation. They probably don’t even have a clue. I hope the painter has a happy ending but I doubt it and that is very sad.