A Special Message from Jim about his dad, a Cuban refugee, and what the deportation of an 11 year old US citizen to Mexico says about America.

My interview with Congressman Joaquin Castro on Tuesday’s program got me thinking about my father’s immigrant experience when he came to the U.S. Castro recently visited an 11 year old U.S. citizen who had been deported with her undocumented parents to Mexico. The congressman recounted the family’s story and how the parents of the girl were given the option to leave the U.S. or face separation. Which is not really a choice at all. Add to that, she is being treated for cancer and it is all the more appalling. Is that who we are as a country, Castro asked. It may be who we are now. But that has not always been the case.

Some of you may have heard this before. But my dad’s story about coming to this country teaches us that America need not be the heartless and cruel place it has become since Trump returned to the White House. My dad, A.J. immigrated to the U.S. in 1962, three weeks before the Cuban Missile Crisis. He and my grandmother ended up settling in Vienna, Virginia - just outside Washington, D.C. My dad has told me about how one of his grade school teachers would pull him out of class every day to help him read and write. He likes to talk about how a presbyterian church gave him and my grandmother coats and sweaters so they could survive their first D.C. area winter.

He remembers people being kind and generous. That was back in the 1960’s. That is the America he thinks about when it comes to the immigrant experience. The Trump administration which has placed cruelty first is not who we are. It is not too late to be the country we should be - a place that welcomes the newcomer, leading with the heart, not heartlessness.

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