In response to Debbie Simond’s Aug. 29 letter, “Hold lawbreakers accountable,” I would like to offer a couple points: People fleeing their country to cross our borders are primarily refugees running for their lives. They are trying to get away from horribly adverse/life-threatening situations. Think about it — if you had a child and were in a good situation would you go on a horrendous trek across desert only to put your life and that of your child at risk? They are asking for help, and we are taking their children.
If you were starving and stole a loaf of bread, would you want your constitutional right of due process (which is provided to anyone on U.S. soil) to be forsaken? You would then be thrown into prison, never to be heard from again. That’s what this zero-tolerance policy does, it denies due process, which is illegal, and it unforgivably separates children and parents.
Native Americans who scalped people had a disdain for separating mother and child of their captured slaves. So, yes, the lawbreakers should be held accountable, but they’re not who some may think they are.
