Last week I heard about a young girl who died in US custody on the border.
Seven years old and crossing from Mexico.
That’s all I knew.
Then I saw the photograph of her.
Looking exactly one of my kids.
Your kids
Anyone’s kids,
Anyone’s sister.
Heartbroken
Scared.
Coming here on a promise
On the bottom of a statue.
The same words that brought
Al’s dad,
Running from a Pogram,
Turned away,
Back Cuba.
Where he sold ties.
And then came back.
Swimming to America.
The Legal Aid Justice Center reminds us:
Her name was Jakelin.
Her name was Jakelin.
She was seven years old.
She was coming to share a better life with us.
She was a DREAMer, too.
Micah at Judson went to Mexico to bear witness.
He tweeted out:
New Sanctuary Coalition is outraged by the death of 7 year old Jakelin at the custody of @CBP We commit to redoubling our efforts to fight for the rights and dignity of all immigrants in her name. Rest in Power, Jakelin. #abolishborders #JakelinAmeiRosmeryCaalMaquin
Savitri D put out a call to the community to join a vigil to her.
Hey all if you are free tomorrow TUESDAY Dec 18 AT NOON
we start at Columbus Circle
International Day of the Migrant
a vigil for Jacelin Maquin who died in Border Patrol Custody last week
We’re small but we’re powerful, she greeted me
Billy said hi.
Three years ago, we were in Paris.
How are you?
OK.
This little light of mine, we sang,
walking over to Trump Tower.
To remind the world.
This is the outcome of our policies.
Its official cruelty.
Much of it started with 9/11 preached Billy.
When torture became enhanced interrogation.
And the beat has just gone on and on.
More Starbucks, more evictions, more borders.
Displacement expanding.
Separating bodies
Punishing difference.
Penalizing the poor.
Love no border.
Dragonfly recalled the underground railroads
He ancestors crossed looking for freedom.
Another recalled his father’s struggle
When his parents were turned away during the 1940’s.
This doesn’t just hurt the individual,
Generations experience it.
We’re going to reap a whirlwind
Preached Billy.
“For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”
People come because of the words on the statue,
“Give me your tired, your poor,
your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
They don’t worry about Trump.
This little light of mine,
We sang walking to Trump.
All around the world, I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine,
Let it shine,
Let it shine.
“Death of 7-year-old on border raises questions”
By COLLEEN LONG and ELLIOT SPAGAT | Sat, December 15, 2018 12:34 EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — Just 7 years old, Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin was picked up by U.S. authorities with her father and other migrants this month in a remote stretch of New Mexico desert. Some seven hours later, she was put on a bus to the nearest Border Patrol station but soon began vomiting. By the end of the two-hour drive, she had stopped breathing.
Jakelin hadn't had anything to eat or drink for days, her father later told U.S. officials.
The death of the Guatemalan girl is the latest demonstration of the desperation of a growing number of Central American families and children showing up at the U.S.-Mexico border, often hoping to claim asylum, and it raises new questions about how well authorities are prepared.
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