John,
Yesterday, ICE officials suddenly detained 680 people in Mississippi in the largest immigration raid in U.S. history. Their kids had no one to pick them up from school and were terrified. What our government is doing is deplorable and nauseating.
The scale of this operation may have reached new heights, but this practice is nothing new. I have seen the effects of immigrant detention and family separation first hand. Those visceral experiences are a major reason I finally said, "enough is enough, I'm running for office."
In my last job, I traveled throughout the Deep South, including Mississippi, to work on documentary storytelling and political advocacy around a variety of social justice issues. I remember visiting a shelter for immigrants recently released from detention in Texas. As I opened the door to a room, I saw a mom curled up in the fetal position sobbing and moaning in exacerbated pain.
What had happened? She had crossed the border with her elementary school-aged son and the two had been immediately detained. After some time in detention (a traumatizing experience in its own right), she was released into the community with an ankle monitor, but without her son. Every day she called various government entities to track down her son. Every day, they told her same thing: we don't have any information about him. They were finally reunited after an entire week.
I am of a generation that sees immigration and diversity very differently than those currently in power. For me, accented speech and brown faces do not represent a threat. They are simply my family, neighbors, and friends. They were the people who encouraged me to become who I am today, who I depended on, and, if I become a Congresswoman, who can depend on me.
Please donate if you can. Let's elect public officials who will not tolerate this inhumane cruelty any longer.
Thank you so much,
Agatha
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