Let in this Jakelin Amei Rosmery Maquin and Her Father

   If a child dies in the custody of border agents, does it raise our concern for these people?
   Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin, 7, from the Mayan highlands of Guatemala. Dead on arrival, or shortly thereafter.  She and her father sneaked across the border, along with 161 other migrants, at a remote spot in New Mexico. Her sudden illness and death came shortly after they were apprehended.
   What of the death of this 7-year old? Does it make us reconsider our policies? We do not know at this time if Jakelin and her father first tried to enter at another site, or if their first effort at crossing the border was at that remote spot in Mexico. But, it remains that some migrants do make their way to points of entry, only to find there are not enough government workers to even take their asylum applications. So, they go to another spot along the border do gain their entry.
   We do not want them in, so we don't provide enough staff to even begin processing them. Such is our strategy, and such is not the strategy of justice.
   Nor of humanity. It forces them to flee the point of entry and seek a desperate, dangerous, and less legal crossing. I say "less" legal, but that word might not apply,  for the 163-person party Jakelin was part of apparently did turn itself in upon crossing the border. How many wanted to apply for asylum, we may not yet know for certain, but it appears that was their intent.
  Should we ask ourselves where the harm would come to our great nation, if we if had policies that allowed Jakelin and her father in? What harm if a child and her father were allowed to come from poverty on the Mayan highlands to live on our proud soil?
   Do not let the humble disturb our pride?
   It is not that, you say. It is the others who would come with them. If we let two in, we let them all in. And, they pour into our hospitals and overflow our welfare nets. And, among them come terrorists and gang members and murderers and every type of criminal the mind can imagine.
   This is what we get, if we let in the child and the father from the highlands of Guatemala.
   There is a solution, of course, and it is an easy one. We are big on quotas, are we not? Why not let in the poor from the Mayan highlands, let them be beneath the quota? Vet them, of course. Verify they are the poor of the Mayan highlands, and let them in. Check for criminal backgrounds. Then, within days, let the 7-year-old child and her father in.
  Should it be so hard to distinguish a 7-year-old and her father from the Mayan highlands from terrorists? No it shouldn't, so, yes, let them in within days.
   And, let all such candidates in. If there be 10,000, let them in. Oh, there may come a point where too many come, and the saturation level is reached. But, 10,000 or 20,000 is not that number. The quota imposed, should not be imposed to stop worthy migration, but to bring a stop when we cannot care for more.
   There are faces on these immigrants, and they are not all the faces of terrorists and MS13ers. There are the faces of 7-year-old Jakelin and her father. And, if we would look at the faces of many -- perhaps all -- of the 161 who came with this father and child, perhaps we would see nothing but the faces of people like those of Jakelin and her father.
   These, we should let in. If we know of the voice of humanity, we let them in.

(Editing done and changes made 12/15&16/18)