A few weeks ago, I participated in a Federalist Society debate at Cornell regarding the immigration issue. One of the things that came up was family separation. My opponent was confident that, even with more rigorous immigration enforcement, the government would not seek to separate illegal immigrant parents from their (US Citizen) children. Today, the Des Moines Register gives us this heartwarming holiday story: (Hat Tip: Firedoglake)
Marshalltown, Ia. A priest's and nuns mission to find the mother ofa nursing baby was thwarted today after they said officials from CampDodge would not let them inside to tell their story.
SisterChristine Feagan, from the St. Marys Hispanic Ministry, and The Rev.Jim Miller, who is a priest from the St. Marys Parish, both said theydrove to Camp Dodge this afternoon to find out the status of a nursingmother who was deported and nursing a baby. They were also seeking afather with an ashmatic child. They didnt come with papers showing legal status. Instead, they wanted to show them the need to be free, said Miller.
Millersaid he knows detainees were located there, because they were permitteda phone call from Camp Dodge and some had called the church seekinghelp. He said an ICE officer at the facility wouldnt tell us anything about anybody. Theduo returned to Marshalltown this afternoon to deal with the scores offamilies trying arrange care for children whose parents have beendetained. At the churchs Hispanic ministry, the baby whosemother was arrested was passed among staff and a community activist whohad agreed to help care for her. They said they dont know when the girl, whose father is absent, will be reunited with her mother.
Thechild, whose name was not provided by ministry staff, cried little, andstared at the different faces visiting the ministry. Women speaking amixture of Spanish and English coordinated plans with how they wouldtake care of children left behind. Carmen Montealegre is one ofthe women who is taking care of two of her friends children withfamily displaced by the arrests. One of the children, a seven-year-old,asks frequently why her mother was detained, she said.
She asked me three times, Did she kill someone? I said, She was working under another name. The baby left behind has her own problems. She has been difficult to feed since her mother was arrested, Feagan said. Themother was breastfeeding the baby, Feagan said. The baby doesnt wantto eat. Another tried to breastfeed, but she knew it wasnt her. Feagansaid she and advocates for local Hispanic families have tried topinpoint exactly how many children are in family-limbo to try toorganize help.
A total of 408 students were absent in theMarshalltown community school district as of Wednesday morning,district officials reported.
