There’s absolutely nothing wrong with immigration. It’s an important aspect of our country and our freedoms. But again, we have laws surrounding how this will take place.

And in its persecution of immigrants, the current administration is targeting both legal and illegal immigrants alike.

Last week I read a story about a 9 year old girl — a legal U.S. citizen — who was detained by border officials for 36 hours, despite the fact that she was carrying her passport at the time.

Then there was the story of a DACA recipient who was mere months away from obtaining her legal citizenship, who flew to Mexico at her employer’s request (she was a flight attendant), and was detained by border officials for 6 weeks.

Then there was the story of two women in Montana who were very nearly arrested by an ICE official simply because he overheard them speaking Spanish.

Nothing demonstrates the persecution of legal immigrants more than how asylum seekers are being treated. People are showing up at the border and requesting asylum — which is the legally appropriate method for entering the country via claiming asylum — and they are being locked up, indefinitely, for no apparent reason.

To say nothing of the children who are being separated by from their parents, being kept in cages, and not even being kept track of.

For the record, I do think our immigration laws need to be changed. I think we need to make it easier to immigrate legally. Instead of deporting all illegal immigrants, I think we should focus on deporting the criminals. If an illegal immigrant can prove that they have a job and are a contributing member of our society, then I think we should offer them a path to legal citizenship instead of locking them up or shipping them away.

But you’re right, these are not the laws as they are written now, and until such time as the laws are changed, then the laws currently on the books should be enforced.

But they have to be enforced humanely, and I think there is clear evidence that the current administration is failing at that.

The harassment of legal immigrants and of US citizens who happen to have brown skin has got to stop, and the illegal immigrants who are deserving of scrutiny also deserve to be treated with dignity.