When Babies Stop Crying
I rejoice that these three newborn immigrant babies are with their mothers in our GateWAY Loft (Safe Harbor Immigrant Welcome Shelter). Thank you all who support us to make this possible.
(San Diego) Dr. Ann Nesbit, MD, PhD, a retired child psychologist (who by the way worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) told me something this week that pierced my heart. We were discussing what is happening to the children separated from their parents along the border. Based upon her 40 years as a child psychologist, she said, "When children are separated from their parents in this manner," she said, "they cry for a while. Then they stop! That's when they have given up. And that's when the trauma of parental separation begins a life-time of consequences."
I am so grateful our GateWAY Loft makes it possible for immigrant/refuge mothers and babies to stay united, even if the fathers are being held in detention (prison).
This will be my first Fathers' Day with my foster son, so my heart is full of both joy and sadness. Joy for finally learning what it means to be a father of a baby, and overwhelming sadness at the unimaginable travesty unfolding before us where mothers and fathers are being separated from their children.
No longer can we say, “If I had been alive at the Native American ‘Trail of Tears’; colonial and ante bellum slave auctions; or Japanese internment camps, would I have permitted children to be taken from parents.” It’s happening now. Time and eternity will record what we do or fail to do.
This is evil in its purest form. To stand by and do nothing is not an option. But to rationalize that somehow this is “God’s will” is blasphemous!
Mr. Sessions, my fellow United Methodist, please do not quote cherry picked verses to us on this. Yes, Romans 13:1 says laws and governments are ordained by God to provide for an orderly society.
But read on a few more verses (Romans 13:9-10): “…for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law…and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Taking Mr. Sessions’ interpretation, we would still be a colony of the British empire!
No, our founding fathers knew “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands…” (Liberty and Justice for All)
When a government practices evil, it is our moral duty to correct it. Even if you are not religious, this action is a crime against nature. Both the parent(s) and children will carry emotional scars for the rest of their lives. The world is watching and stands amazed we have surrendered the moral ground and our values.
Look! There is no “law” requiring parents and children be separated in the immigration/refugee process. That is a damn lie that many are using to justify the unjustifiable.
Dr. Kathy Schwartz, M.D., PhD., a Pediatric Physician from Johns Hopkins, (shown holding Harry in the picture beside the three infants) is volunteering her time to come in periodically to check on our little ones. Bless you!
Each year, thousands of asylum seekers arrive at our border and apply for asylum, (protection from persecution). The overwhelming majority of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants follow both USA and international humanitarian laws. They present themselves to Border Patrol and are turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and allowed to legally enter the United States, awaiting their assigned Immigration Court date. An Immigration Judge hears their case and then rules on their plea. The few who do not follow the “law” are subject to capture and deportation; but no one should be subjected to having their children ripped from their arms.
The United Nations 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol defined a refugee as a person who is unable to return to his or her home country because they cannot obtain protection in that country, due to past persecution or a well-founded fear of being persecuted in the future. Grounds for asylum include “on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”
Congress incorporated this definition into U.S. immigration law in the Refugee Act of 1980. It is THE LAW!
As a signatory to the 1967 Protocol, and through U.S. immigration law, the United States has legal obligations to provide protection to those who qualify as refugees.
“We are a nation of laws, and immigrants should follow the law,” I often hear. I could not agree more! So why are we violating not only our laws, but our values in this barbaric way?
Pray, tell me, when will this administration begin obeying THE LAW?
GOD HAVE MERCY!
For Christ's Sake,
Pastor Bill Jenkins
