Concern for people who arrive in the U.S., out of fear for their lives in Honduras or Guatemala, relates to ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ICE is the agency looking to locate desperate people in the United States and deport them to the misery they have fled, lives threatened by hunger, hurricane-destroyed homes or murder, too often in circumstances their government should be preventing.

This needs to end, and U.S. national policies must be reviewed and revised. There is no need or reason to construct holding locations, such as in Scarborough, for people fearful for their lives already, until they can be deported. There is generally no need to deport them. The United States has the capacity to rescue, house and employ people.

Many local citizens are pulling into groups to resist these holds and deportations. We oppose the agency and the process and have been making that known with protests.

Our voices are needed. Our country must take an active position to find safe, humane support for desperate families and children. We need a well-thought-out immigration policy. We also need revised policies with countries such as those in Central America.

No jail or holding facility should be used to place refugees from the life-threatening harms they have fled.

Community-based alternatives are safer, humane and cost-efficient. Instead of the ICE near-torture lockups, our government can write and put into effect much better immigration policy.

Grace Braley
Portland

Copy the Story Link