A Call to Action … Support Our Immigrant Communities
U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) raids continue to upend innocent lives in our country—terrorizing and inflicting fear to many of our brothers and sisters by detaining undocumented immigrants who are here in our country seeking a better life for their families. ICE raids are primarily targeting our Latino friends residing in blue states like California and New York. It is also a warning Asian immigrants like our kababayans could be the next target by ICE.
The Fil-Am Voice calls on all our community leaders to rally and raise our collective voices in support of our friends, who are targets of enforcement sweeps and being detained by unchecked federal officials. This inhumane treatment by President Trump has caused many families to become separated.
In some instances, children come home from school, suddenly without parents and sadly wonder if they are ever going to see their detained parents and/or grandparents again. Who is going to take care of these children without their families? President Trump came into office in January vowing to target violent criminals for deportation. But amid pressure to raise deportation numbers by his extremist right-wing supporters, federal administration officials shifted their focus to innocent and hard-working farm workers, landscapers, hotel housekeepers, caregivers, healthcare workers, construction workers and other laborers, many of whom have been working in the country for decades.
As our family and grandkids traveled the country during this summer, I witnessed many demonstrations supporting our Latino friends who are senselessly targeted for deportation without due process of law. Even a Latino U.S. Senator was recently handcuffed by federal officials for simply asking a question during a press conference by the Secretary of Department of Homeland Security. This action by our federal law enforcement officials is un-American.
No immigrant is immune with this senseless act—and they may come for us soon if we do not act and resist. Our undocumented kababayans are only protected when we are in solidarity with our fellow immigrants. We can no longer afford to be silent. Many demonstrations are taking place throughout the country, including here on our island home with shouts and cheers, honking horns, and many homemade signs like “No kings at least not today,” “No crown for the clown,” Power to the people.” The collective vibration is enormous “Save the country” is echoed during these many rallies. We cannot shrug and surrender the country to a wannabe dictator and/or billionaire warmongers.
This administration seems to delight in inflicting suffering on minority communities. Inhumane raids by ICE are ripping away the American dream from undocumented immigrants who came to this country to seek a better life.
We strongly urge our fellow Americans to continue pushing back against the administration policies with peaceful protest and resistance. The question we need to ask ourselves is, “How do we rise together” during this time of uncertainty and fear? As a fellow immigrant in our community, silence is NOT an option. We need to stand with our brothers and sisters who contribute so much to our economy and are an integral part of our community.
Our strength is through our unity—a collective voice to advocate for those who are marginalized minorities. Let us make America a welcoming country again. May our God direct our path to righteousness—and extend compassion to our immigrant families and friends.
